The Smiling Proud Wanderer - Chapter 62 Chapter Thirty-Five

“Not fake!” Yu Canghai answered. “I saw it from head to tail, every move and every stance, I saw all of them already.”

Mu Gaofeng was surprised and happy; he jumped down from his horse and sat at Yu Canghai’s table. “I heard this sword manual was taken by Yue Buqun. How did you see it?”

“I didn’t see the sword manual, I only saw a person using this sword art.”

“Oh, is that so? There’s real Evil Resisting Sword Art and there’s fake Evil Resisting Sword Art. Fuzhou’s Fortune Prestige Escort House’s descendants learned the useless type of Evil Resisting Sword Art. When people see them use it, their teeth will fall off from laughing too much. Is the one you saw real?”

“I also don’t know whether it’s real or fake. But the person who used this set of sword art was a descendant of the Fortune Prestige Escort House.”

Mu Gaofeng laughed loudly. “You’re the leader of a school but you don’t know whether the sword art is real or fake. Didn’t Lin Zhennan from the Fortune Prestige Escort House die under your hand?”

“Whether the Evil Resisting Sword Art is real or fake, I can’t tell. Hero Mu is brilliant and have a lot of experience, you’ll definitely figure it out,” Yu Canghai replied.

Mu Gaofeng knew this short priest was experienced in martial art, and that he was also a first class figure in Wulin. For him to suddenly say such a thing, there must definitely be a deeper meaning to it. Mu Gaofeng giggled and swept his eyes across. He saw everyone was looking at him strangely like he had said something really wrong. “If I have a look at it, I’ll definitely be able to distinguish it.”

“If Hero Mu wants to have a look, there’s someone here who can use that sword art,” Yu Canghai replied.

Mu Gaofeng’s heart shivered as if it was suddenly cold. He swept his eyes across again to look at each person. He saw Lin Pingzhi’s expression was the most uncaring, so he asked, “Is this the youngster who can use it?”

“Admirable, admirable! Hero Mu really has good eyesight, just one look and you’re able to figure it out,” Yu Canghai said.

Mu Gaofeng observed Lin Pingzhi from head to toe, and saw his gown was gorgeous like he was a young master from a wealthy family. He thought, “The way Shorty Yu said that, there must be a plot against me. The enemy has a lot of people. A good man doesn’t want to be disadvantaged so there’s no need to bother with them. I’ll just go with my plan. Since Yue Buqun’s daughter is in my hand, I don’t have to fear him not coming to exchange the sword manual for her.” So he laughed loudly and said, “Shorty Yu, I haven’t seen you for a long time but you still love to joke around. I have some matters to do today, so forgive me for not accompanying you. Evil Resisting Sword Art is good, Killing Demon Sword Art is also good but I don’t care about it, so goodbye.”

As soon as Mu Gaofeng finished saying these words, his body shot out and landed on his horse’s back. His body was very nimble. At the same instance, people there felt there was a blur in front of their eyes looking like Lin Pingzhi had jumped out and hindered Mu Gaofeng’s horse’s path, but then they saw he was still lightly fanning himself, sitting at his table looking like he had never left it at all. Everyone was greatly astonished but Mu Gaofeng shouted and urged his horse to go. Masters like Linghu Chong, Yingying, and Yu Canghai saw clearly how Lin Pingzhi had extended his hand to stab twice and done something to the horse. Sure enough, after a few steps, Mu Gaofeng’s horse suddenly ran into a pillar of the grass shed. The force with which the horse ran into the pillar was enormous and it brought half of the grass shed down. Yu Canghai leapt outside of the shed while the grass and hay fell on top of Linghu Chong, Lin Pingzhi, and other people’s heads. Zheng E extended her hand to remove the grass on Linghu Chong’s head. But Lin Pingzhi just kept on staring at Mu Gaofeng and was oblivious to anything else. Mu Gaofeng hesitated, dismounted the horse, and released the rein. That horse rushed forward a few steps and ran into a big tree. With a long neigh, it fell down on the ground with a bloody head. This horse’s movement was really strange and it became obvious both of its eyes were blinded because Lin Pingzhi had stabbed them with his unbelievably quick hand technique.

Lin Pingzhi used his fan to slowly wipe away the grass on his left shoulder. “A blind person riding a blind horse; that’s very dangerous you know!”

Mu Gaofeng laughed loudly. “You, little kid, really are arrogant. You must have real skill. Shorty Yu said you know how to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art. There’s no harm in letting grandpa have a look.”

“Alright, I’m going to give you a look. You killed both my parents and sinned deeply just because you wanted to have a look at my family’s Evil Resisting Sword Art. You’re just like Yu Canghai,” Lin Pingzhi replied.

Mu Gaofeng was stunned. He never expected this little master was Lin Zhennan’s son. He secretly thought, “You have the nerve to openly challenge me here, so you must be feeling secure. His five mountains sword schools have become one school. These Heng-Shan School’s nuns must all be his helpers.” At this thought, he turned his hand around to grab Yue Lingshan and thought, “The enemy is many and I’m alone. This little girl is his wife. Once I have her under my hand, what can this little kid do?”

Suddenly, he heard the sound of the wind whistling behind him as a sword was hacked down on him. Mu Gaofeng slanted his body to dodge it, and saw Yue Lingshan was the one wielding the sword. Yingying had actually cut off the ropes tying Yue Lingshan’s hands, opened up her sealed acupoints, and had also placed a long sword in her hand. After her attack was evaded by Mu Gaofeng, Yue Lingshan felt her injury flaring up again. Also, her acupoints had been sealed for a long time already so her limbs were aching. So even though she felt really angry, she didn’t chase after him.

Lin Pingzhi laughed derisively. “Your reputation in Wulin is already well known for many years already, but you’re actually so shameless. If you still want your life, crawl on the ground and give grandpa three kowtows while calling me ‘grandpa’ three times. Then I’ll let you live for one year. After one year, I’ll come and look for you again.”

Mu Gaofeng threw his head back and laughed out loud. “Little kid, that day in Hengshan at Liu Zhengfeng’s house, you disguised yourself as a little hunchback and kowtowed to me and called me ‘grandpa’. You even staked your life to become my disciple. Grandpa wasn’t willing, so you joined Old Yue’s school and swindled yourself a wife, isn’t this right?”

Lin Pingzhi didn’t answer. His eyes were filled with fires of anger, but his face was filled with excitement. He snapped his fan closed and put it on his left hand, while his right hand lifted up his gown as he stepped out of the grass shed to walk towards Mu Gaofeng. The breeze blew past and carried a sweet fragrance to everyone’s nose.

Suddenly, two cries were heard. The faces of Qingcheng School’s Yu Renhao and Ji Rentong changed colour, and blood was gushing out of their chests as they fell down. The people besides them couldn’t help calling out in fright. They saw clearly Lin Pingzhi was going forward to deal with Mu Gaofeng, but without knowing how, he unexpectedly drew his sword and killed those two people. After he killed them, he had promptly put his sword back into its sheath. Besides Linghu Chong and a few other masters there, the other people there only felt a flicker of cold light. They didn’t see clearly how he drew his sword out let alone how he used his sword to kill those two people. A thought flashed in Linghu Chong’s mind, “When I first met with Tian Boguang, it was also hard for me to fight against him. But after I’ve learned the Dugu Nine Swords, his fast knife was no longer fast enough in my eyes. But I’m afraid Tian Boguang wouldn’t even be able to take three moves from Lin Pingzhi’s fast sword. And me? How many moves would I be able to take?” All of a sudden, his palms were all sweaty.

Mu Gaofeng pulled out a sword from his waist. This sword of his was really strange as it was shaped in an arch. A hunchback using a sword which also had a hunchback; so the sword was called a hunchback sword. Lin Pingzhi sneered, and walked up to him step by step. Mu Gaofeng suddenly howled like a wolf and his body rushed forward with his hunchback sword slashing an arc at Lin Pingzhi’s lower body. Lin Pingzhi’s long sword left its scabbard and was thrust towards Mu Gaofeng’s chest. This sword move was executed later but it arrived first and was also very fierce and accurate. Mu Gaofeng let out a roar and his body shot back out. But there was already a big rip on the chest of his cotton-padded jacket exposing his hairy black chest. Lin Pingzhi’s sword only had to go two inches further forward to have cut Mu Gaofeng’s chest open. The crowd cried out in astonishment.

Even though Mu Gaofeng had just escaped from his death, he was very fierce and unexpectedly didn’t show any fear at all as he roared and charged towards Lin Pingzhi again. Lin Pingzhi stabbed out twice with his sword. With two ‘tang, tang’ sounds, he had blocked the hunchback sword twice. Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly as his sword was getting faster and faster. Mu Gaofeng slashed high and low. The light from his hunchback sword was making up a wall of steel around his body. When Lin Pingzhi thrust out his long sword and clashed against the hunchback sword, his arm felt a burst of numbing pain. It was obvious Mu Gaofeng’s internal energy was much stronger compared to his, and if he weren’t careful, his long sword would be shaken out of his hand. After this, he didn’t dare to attack head on anymore and he observed for a crack in Mu Gaofeng’s defence before he would quickly attack that point with his sword. Mu Gaofeng didn’t care what his enemy was doing and was concentrating fully on revolving his hunchback sword around his body so that not even wind nor rain could penetrate, and it unexpectedly didn’t show any crack at all.

Even though Lin Pingzhi’s sword art was high, he didn’t know what to do. But with this kind of fighting, Lin Pingzhi was in an invincible position. Even if he couldn’t harm his opponent, there was no leeway at all for Mu Gaofeng to make a mistake. Every master there saw that if Mu Gaofeng wanted to attack then his sword net would reveal a weakness, and Lin Pingzhi’s quick sword would attack immediately and Mu Gaofeng would find it impossible to block. This kind of defending oneself with a flying sword was really taxing on the user’s internal energy. Each move had to be done with all your power, and only then would the movements be like unceasing flowing water covering your front and back continuously. But no matter how deep your internal energy was, you still couldn’t use it forever.

Within the sword net weaved by that hunchback sword, Mu Gaofeng kept on roaring. He slashed high and low with his earth-shattering roars accompanying each sword move. Lin Pingzhi had attacked a few times thinking he was going to get through the sword net, but every time it was blocked by the hunchback sword.

Yu Canghai observed this for a long time when he suddenly saw the circle of the sword net had decreased by around half a foot. It was apparent Mu Gaofeng was gradually exhausting his internal energy. With a howl, Yu Canghai lifted his sword forward and slashed out three times at Lin Pingzhi’s back. Lin Pingzhi turned his sword around to block. Mu Gaofeng’s hunchback sword sliced out at Lin Pingzhi’s lower body. Normally, Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng would’ve lost a lot of face in joining forces to attack a youth as they were both reputable seniors. But Heng-Shan School’s people had all seen how violent and cruel Lin Pingzhi was in killing the Qingcheng disciples, and they had also seen how Yu Canghai wasn’t his match. So at this time, when they saw the two masters joining forces, they all felt there was nothing strange about that but instead thought it was a natural thing to do. If the two of them didn’t join hands, how could they fight back against Lin Pingzhi’s lightning fast swordplay?

With Yu Canghai’s help, Mu Gaofeng’s swordplay had changed and he was now attacking as well as defending. The three of them had fought for more than twenty moves when Lin Pingzhi’s left hand circled around and turned his fan’s handle around to point it towards the ground. A half inch needle shot out from his fan’s handle and pierced Mu Gaofeng’s right leg’s ‘Huantiao’ acupoint. Alarmed, Mu Gaofeng quickly brandished his hunchback sword, but he suddenly felt the acupoint on his left leg was also numb. He didn’t dare to move anymore and wildly brandished his hunchback sword to protect his body. Both of his legs were gradually losing strength and finally he couldn’t help but to fall on his knees.

Lin Pingzhi laughed. “It’s too late for you to kowtow now!” Saying this, he attacked Yu Canghai with three moves.

Even though Mu Gaofeng was kneeling on the ground, the hunchback sword in his hand didn’t slow down at all as it quickly slashed and thrust. He knew he had lost so there was a sense of desperation in his fighting as he was trying to bring common ruin to his enemy. In the beginning, all his movements were defensive and there wasn’t a single attacking move at all. But at this time, he was sacrificing his life and he had changed his swordplay into full attack mode without any defence at all. Yu Canghai knew he didn’t have much time. If he couldn’t win within a few moves and Mu Gaofeng fell down, then he would be all by himself, so his sword was now moving like a violent storm. He suddenly heard Lin Pingzhi laughing long and loud, and his vision darkened making him unable to see anything any longer. Both sides of his shoulders then felt cool as both of his arms flew off from his body.

Lin Pingzhi was laughing madly and calling out, “I’m not going to kill you! I’m going to let you run around Jianghu with no arms and no eyes. Your disciples, families, I’ll kill them all and spare no one. You’re only going to have enemies in this world and no family.”

Yu Canghai only felt unbearable pain near where his arms were, but he understood in his heart, “What he has done to me is ten thousand times more merciless than killing me with his sword. Even though I still live, I don’t have any martial art at all, and he can just humiliate me as he wants.” Using Lin Pingzhi’s voice to locate him, he lifted his head to rush at Lin Pingzhi’s chest.

Lin Pingzhi laughed heartily and leaned his body to dodge. Now that his hatred had been avenged, he was lost in ecstasy and wasn’t being cautious anymore. He retreated for a couple of steps and arrived besides Mu Gaofeng. Mu Gaofeng swiped his hunchback sword but Lin Pingzhi blocked it with his sword. Mu Gaofeng suddenly lunged at him and hug both of his legs firmly. Lin Pingzhi was startled and then he saw dozens of Qingcheng disciples rushing at him from all directions. He struggled to free both of his legs, but he couldn’t get them free from Mu Gaofeng’s iron grip. He quickly stabbed his sword at Mu Gaofeng’s hunchback. As his sword pierced the hunchback, a jet stream of black smelly water shot out from it. Lin Pingzhi moved his legs to jump out of the way, but he forgot both of his legs were being firmly hugged by Mu Gaofeng so his whole face was sprayed by the smelly water, and he cried out in pain. This smelly water was actually poison. Inside Mu Gaofeng’s hunchback was a sack of leather concealing this poison water. Covering his face with his left hand and with both of his eyes closed, Lin Pingzhi randomly slashed and chopped at Mu Gaofeng’s body with his right hand. Lin Pingzhi’s attacks were done swiftly but Mu Gaofeng didn’t try to avoid them as he continued to hold onto Lin Pingzhi’s legs firmly.

At this time, Yu Canghai had distinguished the cries of those people and rushed to them with his mouth wide open. He managed to find Lin Pingzhi’s right cheek and clamped down tightly on it. The three of them were entangled into one group and they were losing their minds. Qingcheng School disciples were using their swords to randomly chop at Lin Pingzhi’s body.

Linghu Chong saw all these clearly from his carriage. In the beginning, he was startled, but when he saw Lin Pingzhi being surrounded by the Qingcheng disciples chopping with their swords, he hastily called out, “Yingying, Yingying, quickly help him!”

Yingying shot out with the short sword in her hand. ‘Tang, tang, tang’, the sounds of weapons clashing rang continuously, and the disciples of Qingcheng were kept at several steps away from the entangled mess of Lin Pingzhi, Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai. Mu Gaofeng crazed roaring gradually died off as Lin Pingzhi’s sword penetrated the back of his body again and again. Yu Canghai’s whole body was bloody and he was still biting down firmly on Lin Pingzhi’s cheek.

After some time, Lin Pingzhi gathered some strength in his left hand and pushed Yu Canghai away powerfully. At the same time, he cried out miserably as a chunk of flesh was torn off by Yu Canghai and blood dripped down fiercely from his right cheek. Mu Gaofeng had already died some time ago, but he was still holding both of Lin Pingzhi’s legs tightly. Lin Pingzhi used his left hand to feel around to trace where Mu Gaofeng’s arms were, then he raised his sword and chopped off the arms to free himself. Yingying saw the terrifying look on Lin Pingzhi’s face and she couldn’t help backing away from him. Qingcheng disciples crowded around their master to help him and they didn’t pay any more attention to their strong archenemy.

Qingcheng disciples then suddenly wept. “Master, master!” “Master’s dead, master’s dead!” They lifted Yu Canghai’s corpse and ran to a place somewhere further away, afraid that Lin Pingzhi would chase and kill them.

Lin Pingzhi laughed loudly and called out, “I’ve taken my revenge, I’ve taken my revenge!”

After seeing such a soul-stirring incident, Heng-Shan School disciples were startled and lost all colours from their faces. Yue Lingshan slowly walked towards Lin Pingzhi and stopped besides him. “Brother Ping, congratulations on your revenge.”

Lin Pingzhi was still laughing madly and crying out, “I’ve taken my revenge, I’ve taken my revenge!”

Yue Lingshan saw him with his eyes closed tightly so she asked, “What’s wrong with your eyes? Let’s wash the poison first.”

Lin Pingzhi was stupefied and his body swayed like he was about to fall. Yue Lingshan put her hand under his armpit to help him walk into the grass shed. Then she poured a tray of clean water on his head. Lin Pingzhi cried out miserably showing his unbearable pain. The Qingcheng disciples standing at a far away place were startled and they again ran for a few more steps.

“Little martial sister, take these medicines and give them to Martial Brother Lin. Bring him into our carriage for him to rest,” Linghu Chong said.

“Many… many thanks,” Yue Lingshan stammered.

“NO!” Lin Pingzhi cried out. “What’s so good about being betrayed by him! Whether I’m alive or dead, what does that have to do with him?”

Linghu Chong was startled, and he thought, “When did I offend you? Why do you hate me?”

“Heng-Shan School’s wonderful medicines are well known in the world, it’s hard to come by…” Yue Lingshan softly said.

“Hard to come by what?” Lin Pingzhi angrily retorted.

Yue Lingshan let out a long sigh and poured another tray of clean water on his head. This time, Lin Pingzhi only snorted and gritted his teeth to stop crying out. “He’s so worried about you. You’ve always talked well about him. Why don’t you go with him? Why do you still care about me?”

When the Heng-Shan School disciples heard this, their faces lost their colours. Yihe loudly shouted, “You… You… dare to say such shameless words?”

Yiqing quickly pulled on Yihe’s sleeve. “Martial sister, with his injuries, his mood isn’t good. Why must you argue with him?”

“Pei!” Yihe angrily replied. “I’m just angry…”

At this time, Yue Lingshan had taken out a handkerchief and was wiping the wound on Lin Pingzhi’s cheek. Lin Pingzhi suddenly pushed out forcefully with his right hand. Yue Lingshan wasn’t prepared for this so she was thrown outside and hit a stone wall outside the grass shed.

Linghu Chong was greatly angered and he shouted, “You…” But he remembered the two of them were husband and wife. When husband and wife disagreed on something and fought, it was inappropriate for other people to intervene. Furthermore, from what Lin Pingzhi had just said, it was obvious there was a bit of jealousy towards him. Lin Pingzhi definitely knew about the way he intensely loved his martial sister. Also, his own injury was serious so Linghu Chong couldn’t possibly get involved in this matter, so he quickly stopped from saying anything more. But the anger in him caused his whole body to tremble.

Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. “I’m shameless in what I said? Who are actually the shameless ones?” He pointed outside the grass shed and said, “That Shorty Yu, Hunchback Mu; they were the ones who wanted my Lin family’s Evil Resisting Sword Art. They wanted to steal it and killed my father and mother for it. Even though they were ruthless and merciless, they were still gentleman enough to follow the rules of a scoundrel in Jianghu, unlike… unlike…” He then turned around and pointed to Yue Lingshan and continued, “Unlike your father, Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun, who used such a contemptible and sly method to obtain my family’s sword manual.”

Yue Lingshan supported herself on the wall as she slowly stood up, but when she heard Lin Pingzhi’s accusation, her body shook and she sat back down. She tremblingly said, “Did… did this really happen?”

Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. “Shameless lowly people! Both of you, father and daughter, conspired very well to entice me. Huashan School’s Miss Yue is married to me, a little kid with nowhere to go with no family to return to. Why is that if it isn’t for the Evil Resisting Sword Manual? Once the sword manual is in your hand, why do you still bother with me?”

Yue Lingshan gasped and cried. She said sobbing, “You… you’re blaming a good person here, if I had that idea, then let me… let me be punished by heaven and earth.”

“You secretly set your traitorous plan up,” Lin Pingzhi said. “From the beginning, I’ve been kept in the dark and didn’t understand a single thing. Now with both of my eyes blind, I can see everything clearly. If the two of you, father and daughter, set all these up, then why… why…”

Yue Lingshan slowly walked towards him and said, “Don’t let your imagination run wild. My heart towards you is still the same as before.” Lin Pingzhi snorted in contempt. Yue Lingshan went on, “Let’s go back to Huashan and tend to your injuries. It doesn’t matter if your eyes get better or not. If I have any ill intention behind this, then let me… let me die more miserably than Yu Canghai.”

Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. “I don’t know what kind of crafty idea you have for talking so nicely to me.”

Yue Lingshan didn’t pay anymore attention to him but she said to Yingying, “Sister, I’d like to borrow a carriage from you.”

“Of course you can. Would you like to have two Heng-Shan School’s sisters to accompany you on your journey?”

Yue Lingshan couldn’t stop whimpering as she replied, “No… no need, many… many thanks.”

Yingying pulled a carriage over and gave her the rein and whip. Yue Lingshan held onto Lin Pingzhi’s arm and said, “Let’s get on the carriage!” Lin Pingzhi wasn’t willing, but both of his eyes couldn’t see a thing and it was very hard for him to walk. After hesitating for a while, he finally went inside the carriage. Yue Lingshan bit her lip and jumped onto the driver seat. She nodded her head at Yingying to show her thanks, then cracked her whip urging the mule to draw the carriage towards the northwest. She didn’t give a glance towards Linghu Chong at all.

Linghu Chong watched the carriage disappearing into the horizon. His heart was sour and tears was about to flow down from his eyes. He thought, “Both of Martial Brother Lin’s eyes are blind, and little martial sister is also injured. The two of them has no one else to rely on while slowly going on their long journey, what would be best thing to do? If Qingcheng School’s disciples chased them to take revenge, how can they fight back?” He saw the disciples of Qingcheng had surrounded Yu Canghai’s corpse and then put it on a horseback before going southwesterly. Even though they went in the opposite direction to that of Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan, how would he know if they turn north after going dozens of li into their journey and go after the Lin husband and wife? As he pondered over what Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan said to each other, he felt there were still countless unsaid feelings associated with them. Even though other people wouldn’t be able to see the love and hate between a husband and wife, it was clear the two of them would definitely not have a harmonious marriage. He thought little martial sister was still so young, her parents loved her so dearly, and the martial brothers in the school cherished her deeply, but to be insulted so by Lin Pingzhi, he couldn’t help shedding his tears for her.

On the very same day, after they had gone for more than ten li, they rested inside the main hall of a broken down temple for the night. It was the middle of the night and Linghu Chong had been sleeping but his sleep had been interrupted by unsettling dreams for a few times already. In his sleep, he suddenly heard a soft voice calling him, “Brother Chong, Brother Chong!” Linghu Chong groaned and woke up. He then heard Yingying’s voice, “Come outside, I have something to talk to you about.”

Linghu Chong quickly sat up and walked outside the temple. He saw Yingying sitting on top of the stone steps with both of her hands cupping her cheeks. She was gazing at the moon which was half covered by the cloud. Linghu Chong walked towards her and sat besides her. The night was deep and everything was peaceful. After some time, Yingying said, “You’re concerned about your little martial sister?”

“Yes. There are many things which are hard to understand.”

“You’re worried she’ll be bullied by her husband?”

Linghu Chong let out a sigh. “That’s their own matter, how can other people meddle in it?”

“You’re afraid the Qingcheng disciples will go after them?”

“Qingcheng disciples are pained by the loss of their master, so when they see the two of them injured, they’ll want to go and harm them. That’ll be a reasonable assumption.”

“Why don’t you think of a way to save them?”

Linghu Chong sighed. “I heard what Martial Brother Lin said. He’s quite jealous of me. Even if I have good intention in helping him, I’m afraid I’ll ruin the harmony between the two of them even more.”

“That’s one. The other apprehension you have in your heart is that I’ll be unhappy, isn’t that right?”

Linghu Chong nodded his head and held her left hand. Her palm was very cold. He softly said, “Yingying, you’re the only person I have in this world. If a suspicion also aroused between the two of us, then what would that mean?”

Yingying slowly rested her head on his shoulder. “Since your heart already thinks like that, how can there be suspicion between us? It’s not too late yet, let’s go chase after them and don’t let suspicion keep us away and rouse a lifelong of hatred.”

Linghu Chong was startled and his eyes glazed over in fear. “Lifelong of hatred, lifelong of hatred!” He saw in his mind dozens of Qingcheng disciples surrounding the carriage Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan was riding, and dozens of swords viciously thrusting and stabbing at it. He couldn’t stop his body from trembling when thinking about it.

“I’ll go wake sister Yihe and Yiqing up so you can order them to go back to Heng-Shan by themselves,” Yingying said. “We’ll secretly protect your little martial sister on her journey, then we’ll go back to the White Cloud Convent after that.”

Yihe and Yiqing saw that Linghu Chong’s injury had not completely healed yet, so they were quite worried. But since his mind was already decided and he was also anxious to save his little martial sister, it wasn’t appropriate for them to advise him otherwise. So they gave him a big bottle of medicine and put it in the carriage. When Linghu Chong gave the order to Yihe and Yiqing, Yingying stood on the side looking the other way. She didn’t dare to look at Yihe and Yiqing, thinking they would laugh at them for going together in one carriage at night. Not until their mule-drawn carriage had gone for a few miles that she let out a sigh and the blushing on her cheeks subsided.

She recognised the way they were taking. It was a major road going northwest towards Mount Huashan and it was unlikely for them to get lost. The mule drawing their carriage was healthy and it galloped quite fast. In the calm of the night, they could only hear the rumbling of wheels and the tick-tock sound of the hooves.

Linghu Chong felt appreciative towards Yingying and he thought, “For my sake, she agrees to do anything. She knows I’m very concerned about little martial sister so she comes with me to protect her. She really knows me well. I wonder from which of my previous lives did she come from?”

Yingying hurried the mule up and it went quickly for a few miles before it slowed down again. “We’ll protect your martial sister and martial brother in secret. If they meet with trouble along the way then we’ll go out to help. It’s best if we don’t let them know. I think it’ll be easier if we disguise ourselves.”

“That’s right. Disguise yourself as that big bearded man!”

Yingying shook her head. “That won’t do. Your little martial sister already saw me in that disguise besides the place of worship.”

“Then what should be our disguise?”

Yingying pointed to a farmhouse in front of them with her whip and said, “I’ll go and steal some clothing. We’ll change into a… a… two brother and sister from the farm.” She originally wanted to say ‘a couple’, but as it reached the tip of her tongue, she felt it was inappropriate and immediately changed her word. Linghu Chong guessed it but knew she was very shy, so he didn’t dare to make a joke about it and just smiled to himself. But Yingying was just turning her head around and caught a glimpse of his smile, and her face turned red.

“What’s so funny?”

Linghu Chong smiled. “Nothing. I was just thinking, if that family doesn’t have any girl, and there’s only an old granny and a young kid living there, then I’d have to call you granny again.”

Yingying giggled and remembered the days when she had just met Linghu Chong and he kept on calling her granny at that time. She felt warmth in her heart as she jumped down from the carriage to go towards that farmhouse. Linghu Chong saw her leaping lightly to go over the wall, followed by the sound of a dog barking. But after one bark, it became quiet again, he thought Yingying must’ve kicked it dizzy. After some time, he saw her coming out with some clothes in her hands. When she reached the side of the carriage, he saw that she appeared to be smiling and she had a funny expression on her face. She quickly threw the clothes into the carriage, jumped into the carriage, then started laughing loudly. Linghu Chong picked up some of the clothes and inspected them under the moonlight. They were the clothes of an old peasant and an old woman. The clothes of the old woman were particularly big, inlaid with green flower laces. It was in an old style and clearly not the clothes of a young farm girl at all. Among the clothes, there was also a man’s cap, a head cover for a woman, and a tobacco tube.

Yingying laughed. “You’re Linghu the half deity! You guessed right there was a granny in the farmhouse, but it’s a pity there’s no kid…” She said till here when she blushed furiously and stopped talking.

Linghu Chong smiled teasingly. “So they’re brother and sister. The two are really good to each other. One doesn’t want to take a wife, the other doesn’t want to get married, they live till seventy eighty years old and they’re still together.”

Yingying bit her lip smiling. “You know it’s not like that.”

“They’re not brother and sister? That’s really strange.”

Yingying couldn’t help laughing. Then at the back of the carriage, she put on the clothes of the old farm woman on top of her gown and she also put on the head cover on her head. Then she grabbed some dirt from the side and rubbed it on her face. After that, she helped Linghu Chong to change into the old peasant’s clothes. Linghu Chong was barely a few inches away from her cheek and when he felt her breath caressing his face, he couldn’t help feeling moved. He really wanted to just give her a hug and kiss her, but he knew she was extremely stern and wasn’t the least bit licentious. If he offended her and raised her ire, then it would be hard to say what would happen, so he quickly collected his thought and didn’t dare to move.

He suddenly looked quite strange as he was restraining himself from doing something. Yingying saw him and understood. She smiled. “Good kid, granny adores you.” She extended her palm and rubbed the dirt on his face. Linghu Chong shut his eyes closed and felt her warm and soft palm lightly massaging his face all over. He felt unspeakable comfort and hoped she could continue doing this forever.

After some time, Yingying said, “Done. Your little martial will definitely not recognise you at night, but be careful not to speak.”

“Rub the dirt on my neck too.”

“Who’s going to look at your neck?” Yingying asked with a laugh. But she quickly understood his meaning. Linghu Chong wanted her to massage his neck. With a bent middle finger, she knocked softly on his forehead and turned around to sit on the driver’s seat. With a whistle, she urged the mule forward and suddenly she couldn’t help laughing, and she laughed harder as she went on. She was actually laughing till she bent forward and was finding it hard to sit.

Linghu Chong smiled and inquired, “What did you see in that farmhouse?”

“I didn’t see anything funny. That grandpa and grandma are… are husband and wife…” Yingying laughed.

“So they’re not brother and sister, but husband and wife instead,” Linghu Chong smiled.

“You’re teasing me again, I’m not talking.”

“Alright, they’re not husband and wife, they’re brother and sister.”

“Stop interrupting me, can you not? I jumped over the wall, and a dog barked, so I gave it a slap and made it faint. But the grandpa and grandma were woken up because of it. The grandma said: ‘Amao must’ve seen a weasel coming to steal the chicken.’ Grandpa said: ‘Old black isn’t barking anymore, it can’t be a weasel.’ That old grandma suddenly laughed and she said: ‘I think that weasel must’ve followed your example from the past when you visited my home in the middle of the night. You always brought a piece of meat to give to my dog.’”

Linghu Chong smiled. “This grandma is really bad. She’s scolding you and saying you’re a weasel.”

He knew Yingying was very shy. She was talking about the private matter between the old husband and wife farmers, so he pretended not to understand. Then, perhaps, she would continue with her story. Otherwise, if he said something a little bit romantic, she would stop talking altogether.

Yingying laughed and continued, “That grandma was talking about the time before they got married…” She said till here when she straightened her body and lifted the rein high to urge the mule to quicken its run.

“So what happened before they got married? They must’ve adhered to customs really strictly. Even in the middle of the night, sitting all by themselves in a carriage, they definitely wouldn’t dare to hug or kiss.” Yingying snorted and stopped talking.

Linghu Chong continued, “Dear, darling, what did they say? Tell me please.” Yingying smiled but kept her silence.

In the middle of the night, they only heard the hooves of the mule hitting the road and the peacefulness was really pleasing to the ear. Linghu Chong looked out and saw the moonlight was like water flowing out into the straight and broad road, and the mist enveloped the trees on the side of the road. The mule-drawn carriage slowly entered the mist and everything outside couldn’t be seen clearly anymore, even the back of Yingying’s body was wrapped around a haze of mist.

It was just at the beginning of spring, so the fragrance from the flowers was sometimes thick and sometimes light as the wind carried it, the pleasure of it all was unspeakable. Linghu Chong had not drunk any wine for a long time, but with this feeling in his mind, it felt just like being intoxicated. Yingying was still carrying a smile on her face as her thought went back to what those two old husband and wife were talking: The old grandpa said: ‘That night I didn’t have any meat at all, so I killed a chicken from your neighbour and fed it to your dog. What’s that dog called?’ Old grandma answered: ‘Big Flower.’ Old grandpa said: ‘That’s right, Big Flower. It ate half a chicken and didn’t bark anymore. Your father, mother, all didn’t know. Our Amao must’ve have gotten the same thing tonight.’ Old grandma said: ‘You knew you’re merry, and paid no attention to others’ hard work. Later on, my tummy became big and father hit me viciously.’ Old grandpa said: ‘Lucky your stomach became big, otherwise why would your father agree to marry you to such a poor kid like me? That time, I was looking forward to your stomach getting big!’ Old grandma suddenly got mad and scolded: ‘You devil, so you did it deliberately and you’ve been hiding the truth from me. I… I won’t spare you now.’ Old grandpa said: ‘Don’t be noisy! Amao will also bear a kid. What are you noisy about?’

By that time, Yinying was afraid Linghu Chong would be worried, so she didn’t listen anymore and stole the clothes before leaving a big silver ingot on the table and going out. She was going around lightly and that husband and wife didn’t notice at all. It was because they were already old and slow, and they were talking excitedly, so they didn’t feel her presence at all.

When Yingying thought of the conversation between the two of them, her face and ears turned red. Fortunately, it was at night, otherwise if Linghu Chong were to see her face, she would’ve been totally embarrassed. She stopped urging the mule and the big carriage gradually slowed down to normal speed. They turned around a bend and arrived besides the bank of a large lake. There were willows hanging around the bank of the lake and in the middle of the lake was the reflection of the round moon flickering about as the surface of the lake moved.

Yingying softly asked, “Brother Chong, are you asleep?”

“I’m asleep, I’m dreaming.”

“What are you dreaming?”

“I’m dreaming I’m carrying a big piece of meat and going up the Dark Wood Cliff to feed your family dog.”

“You’re not a proper person. No wonder your dream is also not proper,” Yingying said smiling.

The two of them sat alongside each other inside the carriage, gazing at the lake. Linghu Chong extended his right hand and put it on the back of Yingying’s left hand. Yingying’s hand trembled slightly but she didn’t take her hand back. Linghu Chong thought, “If only we could be like this forever and not see the bloodshed in Wulin ever again. Even if I were to become a god, I still wouldn’t be as happy as right now.”

“What are you thinking?” Yingying asked and Linghu Chong told her what he was just thinking of. Yingying turned over her hand and gripped his hand. “Brother Chong, I’m really happy.”

“Me too.”

“Even though I appreciated you commanding that group of heroes to attack Shaolin temple, I wasn’t as happy as I am now. If I were your best friend, and I was trapped inside the Shaolin temple, you would’ve also tried to save me because of the code of righteousness of Jianghu. But right now, you only think of me, and are not thinking of your little martial sister…” As she mentioned ‘your little martial sister’, Linghu Chong’s whole body quivered and he blurted out, “Aiyo, let’s go catch up to her!”

Yingying softly said, “Only now I believe that in your heart, you finally thought of me a bit more, and thought of your little martial sister a bit less.”

She lightly pulled on the rein to turn the mule around. The mule-drawn carriage returned to the major road, and with a crack of her whip, the mule ran quickly. In just a short time, they had covered more than twenty li and their mule had become weary, so it slowed down. After turning a couple of bends, they saw a field of tall sorghum in front of them with the major road running straight through the middle of it. The pale moonlight on the ground looked like a piece of big green silk spreading throughout the ground. As they gazed far away, they saw a carriage at the other end of the road, which seemed to be still and unmoving.

“This carriage looks like Martial Brother Lin’s carriage,” Linghu Chong remarked.

“Let’s go slowly and take a look,” Yingying replied. She then urged the mule to go slowly as it got nearer to the other carriage. After they had travelled for a bit, they became aware that the carriage in front was actually still moving, but very slowly. They also saw there was a person walking besides the mule, who was unexpectedly Lin Pingzhi. From the shape of the driver’s body, they saw it was Yue Lingshan who was sitting on the driver’s seat. Linghu Chong was surprised and he extended his hand to the rein to stop their mule. “What are they doing?” he whispered.

“Wait here, I’ll go have a look,” Yingying said.

If they were to catch up with the other carriage, then the other party would have discovered them. So they must use qinggong to secretly peep in on them. Linghu Chong really wanted to go with her, but his injury had not healed yet so he couldn’t use his qinggong. He nodded his head and replied, “Alright.”

Yingying lightly leapt off the carriage and rushed into the thicket of tall sorghum on the side of the road. The tall sorghum had grown very thick so once someone entered it, they wouldn’t be seen even in the light of day. But these tall sorghum had not grown very tall yet and their leaves weren’t that dense, so your head would still be exposed outside. She stooped down as she went and followed the sound of the hooves, until she was finally alongside Yue Lingshan’s mule-drawn carriage.

She heard Lin Pingzhi said, “My sword manual was already taken by your father a long time ago, and I don’t have any other move he doesn’t know. Why must you insist on following me everywhere?”

“You’ve always been suspicious of my father having plans on your sword manual without any reason at all. Listen to your own conscience. When you first entered Huashan School, you didn’t have any sword manual, but I’ve always been… always been good to you, could it be, it all means nothing to you?” Yue Lingshan reasoned.

“My Lin family’s Evil Resisting Sword Art is well known throughout the world. Yu Canghai, Mu Gaofeng, they both couldn’t find anything on my father so they searched me. How do I know you didn’t deliberately treat me well because of your father’s and mother’s order?”

Yue Lingshan whimpered. “If you think that way, then what can I do?”

“Did I mistakenly blame you then?” Lin Pingzhi vehemently asked. “This ‘Evil Resisting Sword Manual’, didn’t your father finally take it from my hand? Everyone knows, if you want the ‘Evil Resisting Sword Manual’ then you must take it from this little kid Lin. Yu Canghai, Mu Gaofeng, hng hng, Yue Buqun, what’s the difference? The only difference is Yue Buqun succeeded, while Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng failed.”

“You’re slandering my father, who do you think I am?” Yue Lingshan angrily retorted. “If not for… if not for… hng hng…”

Lin Pingzhi halted his steps and shouted, “What are you going to do? If not for me being blind, injured, you’re going to kill me, isn’t that right? My eyes were blinded a long time ago.”

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“So when you first knew me and treated me well, your eyes were already blind?” She reined in the mule and stopped the carriage.

“That’s right! How would I know you had planned everything? Because of this ‘Evil Resisting Sword Manual’, you actually went to Fuzhou to open up a small wine shop. When that kid Yu from Qingcheng School bullied you, actually your martial art was much higher than him, but you pretended not to know any martial art and made me helped you. Hng, Lin Pingzhi, you were one blind stupid kid, relying on your three legged cat martial art and actually daring to be heroic and be outraged by injustice,” Lin Pingzhi said. “You’re everything to your father and mother, if not for something big and important, why would they agree to let you show your face in public? Why would they agree to let you sell wine in such a humble shop?”

“Father originally sent second martial brother to go to Fuzhou,” Yue Lingshan replied. “It was me who wanted to go down the mountain to play, to follow second martial brother.”

“Your father controls the school’s disciples so strictly. If he believed it was inappropriate, even if you kneeled and implored him for three days and three nights, he still wouldn’t allow you to go. Naturally, it was because he couldn’t trust second martial brother that he also sent you to watch over things.”

Yue Lingshan was quiet, looking like she felt Lin Pingzhi’s conjecture wasn’t completely unreasonable. After a little while, she said, “You can believe me or not, but before I got to Fuzhou, I’ve never heard of ‘Evil Resisting Sword Manual’. Father only said, big martial brother had beaten up the disciples of Qingcheng so there’s a dislike between the two parties. At that time, the Qingcheng School was carrying out a large operation and was moving to the east. So he’s afraid it would be disadvantageous to our school. That was why second martial brother and I went to Fuzhou to investigate.”

Lin Pingzhi let out a sigh. It seemed he had softened up as he said, “Fine, I’ll believe you this time. But I’ve already changed into this. Why are you still following me for? You and I are only husband and wife in names only, we’re not real husband and wife. You’re still a virgin, you can just go back… go back to Linghu Chong!”

When Yingying heard ‘You and I are only husband and wife in names only, we’re not real husband and wife. You’re still a virgin’, she couldn’t help being surprised, and she thought, “What’s the reason for that?” She immediately became bashful and her whole face turned bright red. Even her neck was feeling hot. She thought, “For me to listen to the private conversation of a husband and wife of another family is already very inappropriate, but to think of a reason for that, that’s really… that’s really…” She turned around to go, but she only went for a few steps before her curiosity got the better of her and she halted to listen for more. But she was afraid of being discovered so she didn’t dare to return to her previous hiding spot, and now she was further away from the two of them. However, the conversation between them could still be clearly heard by her. She heard Yue Lingshan quietly said, “After we had been married for three days, I already knew you really hate me. Even though we were in the same room, you didn’t want to be on the same bed with me. Since you already hate me so, why did you… did you… marry me?”

Lin Pingzhi sighed. “I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t hate me? Then why did you pretend to be very caring towards me during the day, but at night when we got back to our room, you didn’t even want to talk to me? Father and mother have already repeatedly asked how you were treating me. I’ve always told them you treated me very well, very well, very well… sob…” She said till here when she suddenly bawled her eyes out.

Lin Pingzhi leapt up onto the carriage and holding both of her shoulders, he then severely said, “You said your father and mother asked you repeatedly wanting to know how I treated you, is this true?”

“Of course it’s true,” Yue Lingshan answered in sobs. “Why do I need to lie to you about this?”

“You know I didn’t treat you well, I didn’t even share the same bed with you. So how did you answer them?” Lin Pingzhi inquired.

“I was already married to you, so I belong to the Lin family. I was hoping you would have a change of feeling soon. I treated you genuinely, how can I… how can I lay out my own husband’s fault?”

Lin Pingzhi gritted his teeth and did not answer her for a long time. After a long time, he slowly said, “Hng, I thought your father was worried about you so he was showing mercy towards me. Who would’ve thought the entire thing was covered up by you? If you didn’t answer like you did, I would’ve died on Mount Huashan a long time ago.”

“How can that be?” Yue Lingshan sobbingly asked. “Newly married couples can be a little bit at odds with each other, how can the father-in-law kill the son-in-law just because of that?”

Yingying heard till here when she advanced forward a few more steps.

Lin Pingzhi said with hatred in his voice, “He wants to kill me not because I don’t treat you well, it was because I learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art.”

“I really don’t understand this. These last few days, the sword art that father and you have been using is really strange, but its power is incredibly powerful. Father defeated Zuo Lengchan and snatched the Five Mountains School’s headmaster position, while you killed Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng, could it be… could it be that sword art is the Evil Resisting Sword Art?”

“That’s right! That really is my Fuzhou’s Lin family’s Evil Resisting Sword Art! Years ago, my great grandfather Yuantu used this seventy two groups of sword moves to intimidate the demonical and created the ‘Fortune Prestige Escort House’ business. All the heroes in the realm respected and feared him because of this.” When he talked of this matter, his voice became louder and it was full of pride.

“But, you’ve never told me you’ve learned this set of sword art.”

“How could I dare? Linghu Chong tried to snatch that Buddhist robe in Fuzhou but he couldn’t do it, but this sword manual written on the Buddhist robe instead fell into your father’s hand…”

“No, it can’t be!” Yue Lingshan sharply interrupted. “Father said, big martial brother was the one who snatched the sword manual. I begged him to return it to you, but he wasn’t willing at all.” Lin Pingzhi snorted and laughed coldly.

Yue Lingshan continued, “Big martial brother’s sword art is very formidable and even my father isn’t his match, could it be the sword art he’s using isn’t the Evil Resisting Sword Art? That it wasn’t learned from your family’s ‘Evil Resisting Sword Manual’?”

Lin Pingzhi again laughed derisively. “Even though Linghu Chong is sly and deceitful, he’s nothing compared to your father. Also, his swordplay is a mess, how can it be compared to my family’s Evil Resisting Sword Art? During the fight besides the place of worship, he couldn’t even compete with you and was injured heavily under your sword, hng hng, so how can his sword art be compared to my family’s Evil Resisting Sword Art?”

“He deliberately let me win,” Yue Lingshan quietly mumbled.

Lin Pingzhi laughed coldly. “His love for you is so deep!” If these words were heard by Yingying the day before, she would’ve gotten enraged even though she knew already Linghu Chong deliberately lost that sword fight. But after spending the night together in the same carriage and talking clearly besides the lake, they knew each other’s hearts, and she now felt sweetness in her heart instead. “He treated you really well before, but right now, he treats me much better. You can’t blame him for this, it’s not because he had a change of heart toward you, but it’s because you’ve been bullying him too fiercely.”

“So big martial brother’s sword art isn’t the Evil Resisting Sword Art,” Yue Lingshan concluded. “Then why did Father always say he stole your family’s ‘Evil Resisting Sword Manual’? That day when Father expelled him from the Huashan School, he declared this to be one of his big crimes. Then, I’ve… I’ve been wrongly blaming him.”

Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly. “What wrongly blaming? Linghu Chong also wanted to rob my sword manual. He had actually already stolen it. But that bandit met with the grandpa bandit, so after he got injured and fainted, your father took it from his body and took the opportunity to lay the blame on him to cover his track. This is called thief crying thief…”

“What thief crying thief!” Yue Lingshan angrily retorted. “You’re saying such a horrible thing!”

“The things your father did, aren’t they horrible? The things he did, am I not allowed to say them?”