THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Secret Meeting Part 3

"Songshan, Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools are already secured by him, while my Heng-Shan School is the only one left. Even if we oppose the merger, it'll still be in vain," Linghu Chong answered.

Chongxu shook his head and replied, "That's not so! Taishan, Hengshan, and Huashan Schools are intimidated by the power of Songshan School so they don't dare to openly object to this. Even if they've said that they agree to the merger, they might not necessarily agree to this in their hearts."

Fangzheng said, "In old monk's opinion, Young Hero must oppose the merger of the five schools. As a principled person, Zuo Lengchan would not necessarily say that everyone
has submitted to his idea. But if the merger were to happen after the talks, then the position of headmaster would definitely be decided by a martial art competition. If Young Hero were to use all of your power, then you'll be able to win the headmaster position from Zuo Lengchan with your superior sword art."

Linghu Chong was greatly surprised. "I... I... How can I do that? I cannot!"

Chongxu said, "Great Master Abbot and Old Taoist already talked about this for a long time and we both feel that Brother is a frank person who does as he pleases; you can even make friends with people from the Devil Sect. If you become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, to be honest, the rules of the Five Mountains School would
relax and the conduct of the disciples might go down. This isn't necessarily the good fortune of Wulin... "

Linghu Chong laughed loudly and said, "What priest said is right, how can junior be capable of taking care of a bunch of other people? If the top were crooked then the bottom would be crooked too. I am only a loafer who likes to drink wine."

Chongxu said, "Neither a loafer nor a wine-lover will harm people, but a person of wild ambition can harm a lot of people. If Brother becomes the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, then firstly, the seniors and disciples of the five mountains sword schools wouldn't be bullied around; secondly, you wouldn't go and attack the Devil Sect
nor would you come to annex our two schools - Shaolin and Wudang; thirdly, Brother also wouldn't annex other schools like Emei, Kunlun and the others."

Fangzheng smiled. "Priest Chongxu and Old Monk have agreed to this plan. Even though we're saying that we're doing this to benefit Jianghu, half of what we're doing is actually for our own benefit."

Chongxu added, "We're speaking frankly here. The old monk and old priest came to Heng-Shan to give our support to Brother and to plead for the lives of people from both the orthodox and demonical path."

Fangzheng joined his palms together and prayed, "Amituofo, if Zuo Lengchan were to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School then who would know when the killings would end."

Linghu Chong took a deep breath and said, "Linghu Chong wouldn't dare decline the order given by seniors. But Junior is a useless person, and it's already very absurd that I became the headmaster of Heng-Shan, but I was forced into it so there's nothing I can do. However, the heroes of the realm will laugh till their teeth fall off if I aspire to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Junior clearly understands the three things mentioned and yet Junior doesn't dare to become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. On the fifteenth of the third month, Junior will surely go to Songshan to make a big disturbance and say that Zuo Lengchan can't become the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Perhaps it would be enough for Linghu Chong to just make a big disturbance there."

Chongxu said, "That's absurd. When the time comes and you're forced to do it then you must become the headmaster of the Five Mountains School." Linghu Chong just shook his head. Chongxu went on, "If you didn't go against Zuo Lengchan, then he would definitely become the headmaster. Once the five schools become one, the first thing Headmaster Zuo would do is naturally to kill you first."

Linghu Chong was silent and let out a long sigh. He then said, "That can't be helped then."

Chongxu said, "But if you were able to escape and he was unable to capture you, then Zuo Lengchan will just help himself to killing the disciples of your Heng-Shan School. Dingxian Shi Tai put so many disciples under your hand, are you just going to leave them to be butchered by Zuo Lengchan?"

Linghu Chong slapped the railing on the bridge and said loudly, "I cannot!"

Fangzheng also added, "By then, Zuo Lengchan would also not let your master, master-wife, martial brothers, and martial sisters off. In the years after that, big misfortunes will definitely fall on their heads. Are you still going to ignore all of this?"

Linghu Chong shivered in fear and the hair at the back of his neck stood up. He stepped back a couple of steps and saluted Fangzheng and Chongxu deeply. "Thank you for seniors' advice, otherwise Linghu Chong wouldn't have worked hard and would've harmed many people."

Fangzheng and Chongxu returned his propriety. Fangzheng said, "On the fifteenth of the third month, Old Monk and Priest Chongxu will lead our disciples to go to Songshan to help Young Hero Linghu."

Chongxu said, "If Zuo Lengchan's Songshan School does something against the rules then our Shaolin and Wudang Schools will put a stop to it."

Linghu Chong was happy to hear this and said, "If the two seniors were there to preside over the proceedings then Zuo Lengchan wouldn't dare to commit his evil acts."

The three of them finally finished their discussion. Even though there were many difficult things ahead of them, they felt easier after deciding what to do. Chongxu laughed, "We should return. The new headmaster has been accompanying an old monk and an old Taoist for a long time, they must be wondering where you are. I'm afraid they must be worried by now." The three of them turned around and had just walked seven or eight steps when suddenly they all halted at the same time.

Linghu Chong shouted, "Who's there?" He was aware of the sounds of breathing coming from one end of the sky bridge. It was apparent that there were people hiding inside the left Spirit Turtle Pavilion of the Hanging Temple.

As soon as he called out, with the sounds of 'peng, peng, peng', many windows of the Spirit Turtle Pavilion were slammed open at the same time. Many arrows were seen pointing out from the windows aimed at the three of them. At the same time, the windows of the Divine Snake Pavillion behind them also slammed open and more arrows were aimed at the three of them.

Fangzheng, Chongxu, and Linghu Chong were the present world's top masters. Under ordinary circumstances, even though the bows and arrows were not ordinary weapons and the people using them were not ordinary either, how could any group actually fight the three of them? But the three of them were on the sky bridge spanning between the two pavilions and below them was a bottomless abyss which prevented them from jumping down. Further more, the bridge was only a few feet wide and limited their manoeuvrability, and added to that, they didn't have any weapons with them. Thus, the trio couldn't help feeling frightened of this ambush.

As a host, Linghu Chong quickly stepped in front of the other two people and shouted, "Daring rats, you don't dare to show yourselves?"

But they only heard someone shouted, "Shoot!"

Seventeen to eighteen black water arrows were immediately shot out from the windows. Unlike ordinary feathered arrows, these water arrows carried water and the water was released from the point of the arrows when shot out. As these water arrows were shot towards the sky, they looked jet black. But as they tipped over in the evening sky, the arrows turned into a strange colour and the air around Linghu Chong and company was filled with rotten corpse or dead fish smell which made them want to vomit. The tipped over water arrows started to rain down onto the bridge. Some of the water hit the wooden railings of the sky bridge and burned small holes through them. Even though Fangzheng and Chongxu were very experienced, they had never seen this kind of fierce poison water before. If the arrows were just ordinary feathered ones, the three of them could have blocked them by transferring their qi into their sleeves. But as the poison water moistened the top of their bodies, they became afraid that it might bore through to their bones. The two elders looked at each other and saw their expressions changed and their eyes filled with fear. Such fear in the eyes of these two headmasters were really rarely seen.

After this wave of poison water was shot out, that person behind the window shouted out in a clear voice, "This poison water was shot towards the sky. If it was aimed at your bodies, what do you think would have happened?" As he said this, seventeen to eighteen arrows were slowly lowered and aimed at the three of them. The sky bridge ran ten feet long with its left side connected to the Spirit Turtle Pavilion while its right side was connected to the Divine Snake Pavilion. Both pavilions were filled with people pointing poisonous arrows at them. Even though the three of them had high martial arts, it was still very difficult for them to escape. When Linghu Chong heard the bright and clear voice of this person, he recalled whose voice it was. "Chief Dongfang's people with the gift; what a good gift!"

The person speaking from inside the Spirit Turtle Pavilion was really Jia Bu, who was the person sent by Dongfang Bubai with those gifts. Jia Bu laughed loudly and shouted, "Master Linghu is very bright to be able to recognise me from my voice. Since I already used a contemptible deceit to gain the upper hand, and a bright person wouldn't want to fight a losing battle, does master Linghu admit defeat?"

Jia Bu himself already admitted to using a contemptible deceit so Linghu Chong couldn't find any fault with what he said. He moved his qi into his Dantian region and laughed long and loud, shaking the whole valley. "I'm here conversing with seniors from Shaolin and Wudang, and all the people who came up the mountain today are my good friends, so I didn't arrange for any protection. So now I have fallen into Brother Jia's trap and I cannot not admit my defeat." Linghu Chong answered.

Jia Bu replied, "That's very good. Chief Dongfang respects the seniors of Wulin and regards the importance of young heroes highly. Furthermore, Young Lady Ren has grown up under Chief Dongfang from a very young age. So in respect towards Young Lady Ren, we don't dare to be rude towards Master Linghu." Linghu Chong just uttered an 'hng' without answering back.

While Linghu Chong was talking to Jia Bu, Fangzheng and Chongxu were observing the situation and were looking for a crack in their line to rush at. But looking at the numerous water arrows at their front and back, even though they would be able to wipe out more than ten arrows at the same time, it would be impossible to take them all out. Even if their enemies managed to just shoot one water arrow through, it would be very difficult for the three of them to protect their lives. After the two of them had a look around, both of their eyes seemed to be saying, "We can't act rashly."

They heard Jia Bu went on, "Since Master Linghu already admitted defeat, both parties can avoid injuries. This is really what I wished for. Chief Dongfang actually ordered us to invite Master Linghu, Shaolin Temple's Abbot, and Wudang School's Headmaster Priest to attend a banquet at my humble sect's gathering altar on Dark Wood Cliff for several days. It's really our good fortune that the three of you are here together. How about if we go now?"

Linghu Chong uttered another 'hng', thinking how could there be such an easy thing in this world because once the three of them left the sky bridge, subduing Jia Bu and Shangguan Yun would be as easy as turning over his palm. As expected, Jia Bu followed by saying, "But the martial arts of the three of you are too high; if you change your mind midway through the journey and are not willing to go to Dark Wood Cliff, then we'll have no way of stopping you. That's why we gathered our nerves to ask the three of you to lend us your three right hands."

"Lend you our three right hands?" Linghu Chong asked.

"That's right. Could the three of you please cut your right arms first? Then we'll be much more at ease," Jia Bu replied.

Linghu Chong laughed loudly and said, "That's how it is. Dongfang Bubai is afraid of our sword arts so he planned this trap. He wanted us to cut our right arms so we couldn't use any weapons. Then, he'll have no more worries."

Jia Bu replied, "It's not certain that he'll have no more worries. But Ren Woxing would've lost a powerful help and that would've weakened him by a lot."

"Sir, you're speaking very frankly," Linghu Chong said.

"I'm just a nobody," Jia Bu said. He raised his voice and said, "Great Master Abbot, Headmaster Priest, are you two going to peacefully give your arms up or are you going to stake your lives here?"

Chongxu replied, "Alright! Dongfang Bubai wants to borrow our arms, so we'll lend our arms to him. But we're not carrying any weapons with us so it's difficult to cut our arms off." As he just finished saying this, a flash of light flew out from the window as a steel ring was tossed out. This steel ring was a foot long in diameter and had a very sharp edge. There was a horizontal bar in the middle to hold it. It was another sect's weapon. If there was a pair of these, then it would become a 'Qiankun Ring'. Linghu Chong was standing at the front so he extended his hand to grab it. He couldn't help laughing bitterly as he thought that this Jia Bu had really calculated everything. Even though the edge of this steel ring was very sharp and useful for cutting off their arms, it was too short to brandish around and block the incoming water arrows.

Jia Bu shouted out severely, "Since you have already promised, quickly cut your arm off! Don't drag the time along thinking that someone's coming to your rescue. I'm going to count to three! If your arms are not cut by then, I'll release the poison water. One!"

Linghu Chong said in a whisper, "I'll charge at them first, follow behind me!"

"No!" Chongxu replied.

"Two!" Jia Bu continued with his count.

Linghu Chong lifted the steel ring with his left hand while thinking, "Great Master Fangzheng and Priest Chongxu are my Heng-Shan School's guests, so I can't let them be harmed. When his count reaches three, I'm going to toss this steel ring, brandish my sleeves and charge up. All the poison water would definitely be aimed at me and the two of them may find an opportunity to get away." He then heard Jia Bu calling out, "Everyone, get ready! I'm about to call 'three'!"

Suddenly, they heard a clear and crisp female voice shouting from the top of the Spirit Turtle Pavilion. "Wait!" Someone wearing a pale green gown floated down from the top of the pavilion and landed in front of Linghu Chong. It was Yingying.