Chapter 45: Penglai Part 2

The moon and stars shone brightly in the sky tonight, above the manor's many flickering torches. The place was swarming with people moving back and forth whilst chattering noisily. Even amidst this cheerful hubbub, Zhou Fei recognised Wu Chuchu's 'Young Master Li' immediately.

It didn't seem like Li Yan was with him. Instead, he was with a group of handsome and elegant young men who looked like they'd walked straight out of a painting entitled 'Gentlemen of Leisure' – and seemed to be fitting right in.

Zhou Fei thought to herself: I've been to the Eastern Sea and back already – why am I still running into this jinx out here? How annoying!

Li Sheng hadn't spotted her, as he and his travel companions were currently engaged in a round of polite toasts. With that genial smile on his face which he reserved for strangers, Li Sheng was going round to each of those young gentleman clinking a tiny cup that was just large enough for a single mouthful of strong liquor.[6] Zhou Fei watched as he toasted all twenty of these men, putting on a big show of throwing his head back and downing every last drop each time. She had no idea how he'd managed to fool those snobbish dunces, as not once did she see him discreetly empty out his cup, yet he didn't look the slightest bit tipsy. As she continued watching him, Zhou Fei found that Li Sheng's gaze was in fact firmly fixed on a particular corner of this courtyard. While she glanced back and forth between Li Sheng and the spot he was looking at, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Just as she was puzzling over this, a drunk man came staggering through the crowd, knocking into people everywhere he went.

This drunk bloke was grunting out a particularly bawdy little ditty, which elicited roars of laughter from quite a number of other boorish guests here. Yet he didn't seem ashamed in the slightest, clumsily reaching for the flasks of wine on every table he passed and knocking over many of these in the process, before finally stumbling over to a table right in the corner. He flopped down hard on the chair and reached for the row of untouched wine flasks on this table. Zhou Fei nearly jumped, as only now did she realise that there was in fact a man dressed entirely in black seated at this corner table.

This black-clad man was skinny in a bony, almost emaciated way. Apart from the streaks of white at his temples, the rest of him seemed to practically meld into the dark night, making it very easy for one to miss him. This was who Li Sheng had been watching.

He looked up at the drunk man, staring him right in the eyes. This inebriated fellow who had been unsteady on his feet just seconds ago seemed to sober up all of a sudden, the little ditty faltering on his lips. Then scrambling to his feet, he made his way frantically back through the crowd. Even after he was some distance away, he kept peering nervously over his shoulder at the black-clad man.

Zhou Fei was even more intrigued now. This black-clad man's posture was ramrod straight. He had a little beard on his face, and a tranquil look in his eyes. He didn't really seem like a frightening sort of person, and as Zhou Fei continued gazing at him, she began to find him oddly familiar. After wracking her brains for a minute, she gasped in recognition – he was the old Taoist priest Chong Xiaozi, who had given her that ratty copy of the Tao Te Ching and taught her the Mayflay Formation outside Yueyang City!

Zhou Fei thought to herself: Has he given up the priestly life?

While Chong Xiaozi was practically a stranger to her, the Tao Te Ching he'd given her had saved her life from Duan Jiuniang's reckless experimentation. Now that she'd run into him again, good manners demanded that she approach and greet him at least. She decided that she would make her away towards him through the busy crowd.

But just as she started to move in his direction, this black-clad version of Chong Xiaozi seemed to sense this somehow, and abruptly shot a piercing glance in her direction. Before she could even nod at him in greeting, he had shiftily averted his gaze, springing to his feet and slipping away into the crowd.

Baffled by this, Zhou Fei made to go after him.

But every single tramp and beggar in these parts seemed to have turned up at the Liu Manor to get themselves a free dinner tonight, and kept getting in her way. Like a slippery black fish, Chong Xiaozi was on the verge of disappearing into the boisterous throng.

Zhou Fei blurted out: "Senior!"

But just then, a large team of servants emerged from the interior of the manor bearing steaming platters of longevity buns,[7] walking in an orderly file right in between Zhou Fei and Chong Xiaozi. By the time they'd passed, he was nowhere to be found. Strains of music were heard – Old Mister Liu had hired a musical troupe for the night. A girl's clear, sweet voice rang out from the inner courtyard.

Zhou Fei rested the tip of Skies Shatter on the ground and turned to look at Li Sheng again, only to realise that he too was gone. She furrowed her brow as she thought to herself: Did Chong Xiaozi recognise me? But why did he hide from me then?

Wu Chuchu had finally manged to jostle her way through the crowd to reach Zhou Fei. Tapping her on the shoulder, she yelled into her ear: "Why are you all the way over here?"

She had a towering stack of books in her arms, which she was carefully shielding from the bustling crowd.

Zhou Fei quickly took half of them from her, asking: "What are these?"

"They're from Old Mister Liu," said Wu Chuchu. "His servant said that as it's far too crowded in his manor today, he won't be able to sit down and have a proper conversation with me. He's extremely sorry about that, and so he's passed me his personal notes on martial arts that he's compiled over the years."

Even a real shifu probably wouldn't be this thoughtful towards his own disciples.

Wu Chuchu said: "But it's not very polite for us to just leave like this, is it? Shouldn't we at least thank him in person?"

Zhou Fei didn't have any objections, as she was also eager to see what kind of person this Old Mister Liu was. The two girls carefully made their way into the inner courtyard of the manor.

Every single surface of this courtyard was covered with people – some had even clambered atop its walls for a seat. A colossal stage had been erected in the centre of the courtyard, on which several comely maidens were performing music. It was a lively scene indeed.

Just when the two of them had found an unoccupied corner to stand in, the musicians got to their feet all at once, and gracefully filed off the stage.

A gong sounded in the courtyard, causing the clamorous crowd to fall silent.

A jolly-looking middle-aged man stood up from amongst the banquet tables. This was evidently the master of the house, Old Mister Liu. He was barely five feet tall, and round as can be – a swift kick would probably send him flying into the air like a ball. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled kindly.

Old Mister Liu didn't address the crowd at once. He first made a big show of looking high and low for a small ladder, which he waddled up on those stubby legs of his. Then surveying the crowd and determining that he was now taller than everyone else, he gave an exaggerated nod of satisfaction. Amidst his guests' laughter, he bowed slightly and said: "Go on, go on, laugh at my expense."

Hearing their raucous laughter, he looked quite pleased with himself as he adjusted his robes and declared: "Today is my mother's eighty-fourth birthday. And as you know, the saying goes 'Seventy-three, Eighty-Four, that's when the grim reaper comes knocking at your door'[8]…"

The crowd burst into laughter once again, as a tiny wizened old lady sitting beside the stage sprang to her feet and started energetically whacking him with the fan in her hand, hollering: "You little scoundrel, how dare you curse me!"

Old Mister Liu covered his head with his hands as he dodged his mother's blows. He had a big head and short arms, which made this quite a sight. Grinning widely, he said: "Oh but mother, do let me finish – I was going to say that I vehemently refuse to believe that saying, which is why I've invited everyone here tonight to celebrate you. All the well wishes you receive today will chase away any of that bad luck! Thank you to all of you for gracing my humble abode with your presence tonight. You most definitely must eat and drink to your heart's content – consider every bite of meat you take a blessing to her health…"

Somebody in the crowd spit out his wine, and the entire courtyard full of people roared with laughter. The eighty-four year old matriarch was so incensed that she grabbed her walking stick and hobbled towards the stage with the support of her two handmaidens, intending to clobber her son off of it. Old Mister Liu covered his head with his hands, running from her blows while crying: "Mother! Mother! I haven't even brought your present out for everyone to see – hey, hey! You should leave me some semblance of dignity at least."

Those musicians backstage were also a mischievous lot, proceeding to strike up a lively accompaniment to this rib-tickling scene. The songstress' peals of laughter could be heard, as the fleshy ball of a man that was Old Mister Liu ran every which way across the stage. The edges of her skirts peeked out from backstage as she prepared to go back out to sing another song. The blokes perched on the walls of this courtyard craned their necks to get a better look at her, all ready to explode with cheers once she stepped out on stage. But all of a sudden, something seemed to come over the rambunctious crowd. A deathly silence started to spread like the plague from the outskirts of the crowd towards the inner courtyard.

As this hush of dread continued to spread from person to person, one of the musicians backstage plucked a string on the zither, before realising belatedly that something was amiss. This zitherist abruptly pressed a palm down on the instrument's quivering strings, causing them to scrape against the zither's wooden board with a piercing screech that sounded all the more jarring in this eerie quiet. Sensing the tension in the air, the people in this courtyard glanced towards its entrance with bewilderment. A servant jostled his way through the crowd, his face deathly pale: "Master, Master, out-outside, there's…"

Before he could finish his sentence, there came a great commotion in the crowd behind him, as if they had been given an immense fright.

And then shortly after, several men in iron masks swept into the courtyard, like a host of devils who had emerged from the abyss to prowl this earth. The packed crowd instantly parted before them, nervously huddling together as far away from them as possible, leaving these uninvited guests a large space in the centre of the courtyard.

Zhou Fei heard hushed whispers all around of 'Iron-Faced Devil'.

Wu Chuchu murmured into her ear: "They look like Young Master Yin's men."

Zhou Fei stroked her thumb lightly against the hilt of Skies Shatter, growling: "Not that pesky bugger again."

Anyone who hadn't been living under a rock would long since have heard of Yin Pei's prodigious achievements over the past few years, his seemingly infinite capacity for wickedness far surpassing all four of those former devils of the Mountain of the Living Dead.

Furrowing her brow, Wu Chuchu said anxiously: "On my way here, I heard people say that he's recently started to roam these parts, but I didn't think that was actually true…he wouldn't be out to harm Old Master Liu, would he?" Sighing, she said: "How did Young Master Yin end up like this?"

Zhou Fei didn't reply, as her gaze swept across the panicked faces of this dumbstruck crowd – that distressflare, Li Sheng, Chong Xiaozi…something about this banquet didn't seem quite right.

The zitherist backstage was clearly nervous as well, as the zither's strings squeaked shrilly against its wooden board. The elderly matriarch who had just been enthusiastically chasing after her son was now shaking like a leaf, so frightened out of her wits that she required the support of her two handmaidens to remain upright.

Old Mister Liu signalled to the two handmaidens, who promptly helped the elderly lady to the side. Wiping the smile from his face, he stepped forward and addressed the masked man leading the pack: "Anyone who comes here tonight is my guest. Would you gentlemen care to take a seat at my table?"

The people still seated here swiftly rose to their feet, evidently averse to having such masked men as their neighbours. But these men simply formed an orderly row before Old Mister Liu, turned their backs to him and knelt to the ground with well-trained uniformity. Then shortly after, several more masked men came in bearing a rattan sedan atop their shoulders,[9] on which sat a man in an iron mask. The man's sickly white hand dangled off the armrest. A ghastly bug was crouched on the back of his hand, its feelers quivering in the air. This man was so thin that he was a mere shell of a person. The cheeks beneath his mask were completely sunken in, making his pointed chin look even sharper. While he was not more than thirty years of age, loose wrinkled skin already hung down both sides of his mouth, causing his greenish-purple lips to droop downwards. He looked barely human.

This shadow of a man didn't seem the slightest bit familiar to Zhou Fei, apart from that empty scabbard of the Sword of Mountains and Rivers which hung at his waist. She couldn't help but ask Wu Chuchu: "Is this fellow really Yin Pei?"

Wu Chuchu shivered involuntarily, goosebumps appearing on the back of her hand.

When the sedan was lowered to the ground, Yin Pei didn't get off at once. Only when one of his sedan-bearers knelt prostrate on the ground before him did he rise lazily to his feet, and step on the back of this masked man to dismount. Zhou Fei noticed that this human footstool sported a familiar tattoo of a tortoise on his wrist, which Li Yan had once poked fun at – he had been one of Ding Kui's men!

"My, my, how festive it is in here," said Yin Pei with a sinister grin, his foot still resting on the masked man's back.

Perhaps he was simply too horrifying to behold – the zitherist backstage accidentally brushed a hand against the strings again, producing yet another screech. In this courtyard so quiet you could hear a pin drop, that dissonant chord seemed to be amplified a hundred times.

Zhou Fei's ears twitched. She shot a keen glance towards the stage, as that sound was strangely familiar.

Old Mister Liu's face was tense as he spoke: "Good sir, are you by any chance the 'Qing Hui Spiritual Master'?"

A corner of the man's lips quirked upwards. His slender, green-tinged fingers brushed lightly over that ghastly bug. Its feelers started to quiver with excitement, and it chirped in a way that made one's skin crawl.

"Mr Liu, haven't you received my letter?" sneered Yin Pei behind his iron mask. "Have you prepared what I asked for?"

Old Mister Liu's plump cheeks trembled: "It's my mother's birthday banquet today, and I have many friends here. Give me just one day more – I'll send over all the silver you want by then."

Yin Pei smiled faintly and said: "Birthday banquet, you say? Then we've come at just the right time. We simply must drink a toast to your mother…eh, what is that?"

He looked over at two servants who were standing beside the stage, carrying a wooden chest between them. These two poor souls started to quake uncontrollably under his gaze, like toads within the sights of a venomous snake. Their knees were knocking together so hard that they could barely stand.

Cold sweat was pouring off Old Master Liu's face. He said in a strained voice: "It's my mother's birthday present."

Yi Pei gave an 'Ah', before asking: "And what might it be?"

An old man in steward's garb who was standing beside those servants bowed deeply at Yin Pei, his head nearly grazing the ground as he said nervously: "It is…an ancient, ancient relic, said to be a precious pearl from the Dragon King's jaws. When held in one's mouth, it makes one invulnerable to a hundred poisons…"

"Oh," said Yin Pei with a nod. He stroked the ghastly bug on his hand with indifference. "I suppose such a pearl might be considered quite rare and exotic. Now that you mention it, I remember seeing the elders in my family receive a pearl like this once, but after our family's fortunes declined, its whereabouts were unknown. Come to think of it, such an object might not be of great value, although it's just the thought behind such a gift that counts – bring it to me so I can have a look."

From Yin Pei's words, it was obvious to Zhou Fei that this pearl had belonged to the Yin Clan at some point, though it subsequently came into Old Mister Liu's possession somehow, and Yin Pei was here to reclaim it. She felt a twinge of sadness – while Yin Pei was ardently trying to recover the Yin Clan's former possessions, he'd reduced his own self, the sole remaining descendant of this clan, to such a wretched state.

Not a single person in the Liu Manor dared make a move. The smile on Yin Pei's lips instantly faded. Drawing them into a thin, tight line, he said menacingly: "What is it, am I not allowed to do so?"

His voice went up several decibels when he said this. That ghastly bug on his hand turned its little head in the direction of the wooden chest, its pair of feelers vibrating vigorously. One of the servants carrying it collapsed to the ground with a thud. The air in this courtyard was taut with tension, its buoyant atmosphere gone without a trace.

Zhou Fei felt her eyes start to twitch. Pulling Wu Chuchu behind her, she muttered almost to herself: "Is this really Yin Pei?"

"Do you think something's up?" While Wu Chuchu had initially been quite certain of it, she found herself doubting this now. She hesitated before saying: "But apart from Yin Pei, don't those ghastly bugs turn anyone else they touch into a shrivelled up shell of a person? Young Master Li told me that such parasites usually only acknowledge one master…"

"Shhh," said Zhou Fei, putting a finger to her lips as she said: "That so-called 'Young Master Li' doesn't know what he's talking about half the time, don't believe all the nonsense he tells you."

Her last few words were so soft they were nearly inaudible. She was already on edge.

Just then, there was a crash from behind the stage, as if the zither had accidentally slipped from its owner's hands. Its strings scraped across the ground with a grating screech. This sound bore right into Zhou Fei's ears, seemingly magnified a thousand times in that moment. An inexplicable tingle travelled from her ears down to the rest of her body, which made Zhou Fei jump.

Zhou Fei felt her heart quicken. She muttered: "…Could it be her?"

Wu Chuchu asked: "Who is it?"

Every single person in the Liu Manor right now was looking at Yin Pei and his entourage. Only Zhou Fei's gaze was turned towards the stage. She said softly: "The Feathercloud Troupe…the zitherist backstage is Madame Cirrus."

Wu Chuchu was stunned: "What? How do you know? Are you sure?"

She knew that Zhou Fei had never cared for artistic pursuits, and certainly didn't know much about music – and even if she were a connoisseur, it was beyond incredible that she would be able to discern the musician's identity from a few solitary notes.

Zhou Fei couldn't tell her how she'd knew. All of her energy seemed to have been focused on her ears just now, such that every single breath and current of wind around her was thrown into sharp relief, resonating in harmony with the chi flowing through her meridians. All of these breaths swirled every which way around her, similar yet subtly different. She had no way of describing what this mix of sensations felt like, just that it was the vaguest, haziest of feelings, the shadowy outlines of an intuition taking shape behind a thin layer of translucent paper, like a figure silhouetted against a window – which told her that the zitherist behind the stage was Madame Cirrus. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Over the last few months, every time Zhou Fei focused her energies on something to a certain degree, she would glimpse such dark figures silhouetted against that 'window' which she could just never seem to open, so near yet so far.

And once she got the slightest bit distracted, this strange sensation would instantly fade away. So when Wu Chuchu asked her how she'd known, Zhou Fei had absolutely no idea what to say.

Just then, the Liu Manor's old steward stepped forward and grabbed the chest from the trembling servant. He thrust his chin out and said: "At the ripe old age of seventy, I've already had my fill of life. If none of you dare do it, let me be the one to send it over – Qing Hui Spiritual Master, since you want to have a look, then here you go!"

The old steward marched grimly towards Yin Pei bearing the chest aloft, as if he were going to his death. Two of the masked men kneeling on the ground stopped him before he could reach Yin Pei. The old steward stomped his foot hard and said angrily: "What is it now, dare you not have a look?"

Yin Pei quirked a brow, but proceeded to raise his chin slightly. These two masked men dutifully stepped forward and lifted the lid of the wooden chest.

The very instant the lid was lifted, that ghastly bug on Yin Pei's hand suddenly reared up on its hind legs and emitted a skin-crawling whine, shrill and sharp, the two rows of legs on its underbelly waving madly in the air. At this sight, even the 'human step-stool' beneath Yin Pei's foot started to shake like a leaf, the cold sweat that poured off him forming a puddle on the ground like a tattered dishcloth that hadn't been wrung dry.

This chest was fairly large, requiring two people to carry it comfortably, although the precious pearl within was merely the size of a dove's egg. Old Mister Liu had displayed it in a most ostentatious fashion – the chest contained a two foot-long tank of water made entirely of crystal, in which several fiery red stalks of coral were artfully arranged. Brackets of gold wire were attached to its branches, and the largest and reddest coral right in the centre had a splendid shell made of jade and gold sitting atop it. On it lay the pearl in all its glory. It was turquoise in colour, with a lustrous shine that reflected the gently rippling water beneath. Under the moonlit sky, it shone even brighter than those luminous pearls in Xie Yun's cave.

Such a treasure would certainly have elicited a series of 'oohs' and 'aahs' from this crowd under normal circumstances. But Yin Pei in the flesh was evidently far more 'awe-inspiring' than an inanimate object, such that despite the unveiling of this priceless pearl he remained firmly at the centre of everyone's attention.

It was said that this pearl could make a person invulnerable to all manner of poisons, even the toxic miasma that hung over the bogs and swamps of the southern frontiers. As long as a person had it on him, no snakes or bugs or any kind of poisonous critters would dare go near him. Yet for some reason, the ghastly bug on Yin Pei's hand became inordinately excited at the sight of it. It shot off Yin Pei's fingertip like a bolt of lightning, greedily heading straight for that open chest, its gruesome mouth agape. Even Yin Pei himself hadn't expected this to happen. As he stared at it in stunned silence, the old steward violently flung the chest's contents at the oncoming bug with a roar!

The pearl and those precious corals which were worth a king's ransom clattered across the ground. To everyone's amazement, the water in that crystal tank morphed into a liquid arrow which swept the ghastly bug away and hurtled towards Yin Pei!

Knocked out of the air by this 'water', the dazed bug landed precisely on the face of that 'human footstool' kneeling prostrate on the ground. The man shrieked in terror, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he fainted on the spot. But instead of burrowing into his flesh, that ghastly bug spasmed drowsily as if it were drunk, before curling up into a ball and lying still.

At the same time, Yin Pei flung his arms out as he levitated up off the ground, his wide sleeves fluttering in the breeze. He moved rapidly backwards through the air to land on his sedan, safely out of that watery arrow's reach. The strings of the zither backstage suddenly started to rattle wildly, like a clarion call to battle.

Orderly ranks of pugilists who had been disguising themselves in the crowd suddenly burst through the frenzied throng, pushing the other unwitting guests to the periphery. They charged at Yin Pei from all around, as several people who were perched atop the low walls of this courtyard signalled at them with small flags to direct their attack. Zhou Fei spotted quite a few familiar faces – most of those people atop the walls were from the 48 Zhai!

As she continued watching from her corner of the courtyard, she found that these pugilists had managed to swiftly divide up Yin Pei's entourage of masked men, making it easier to take them out one by one. They moved in an intricate and coordinated manner, in a tactical formation directed by those little flags atop the walls. This was without question the work of a certain Young Master Li!

And then with a tremendous crash, the massive stage was cleaved in two right down the middle. Madame Cirrus came soaring out in a burst of colour, her robes fluttering round her as she skimmed across the heads of the crowd like a blazing ball of fire. Opening her palms, she unleashed three zither strings that were as sharp as those metal strings in the Ink-Washing River, which swept towards Yin Pei with a high-pitched whine.

Yin Pei's feet didn't even budge as he knocked those strings aside with a flick of his wide sleeve. But before he could reciprocate, he heard the whoosh of arrows hurtling towards his back – Yin Pei jerked his head around to find that he was being attacked by none other than Old Mister Liu's eighty-four year old mother!

That old woman who'd been barely able to keep herself upright was now standing ramrod straight, wielding a dragon-head crossbow capable of firing a dozen arrows at once. It was obvious from her posture alone that this was no old lady. Like a leaf carried on the breeze, Yin Pei floated up off his sedan, springing lightly on his toes off the armrest and then the high back of the seat. Every single one of his movements was incredibly elegant, almost beautiful, while that flimsy rattan sedan stayed amazingly and completely still beneath his feet.

Having failed to hurt Yin Pei, Madame Cirrus quickly spun back and landed several metres away from him. Yin Pei had deftly avoided an onslaught of a dozen arrows, which hadn't even brushed the corners of his clothes. Despite being ambushed by two top pugilists, not once had his feet touched the ground.

The martial arts of this devil had reached truly appalling heights.

Treading lightly and almost lazily across the armrest of his sedan, Yin Pei tucked behind his ear a stray lock of hair that had fallen across his forehead: "So was this pearl intended as bait for me? I suppose I should thank all of you for your trouble!"

With several loud creaks, the body of that crossbow-wielding 'old lady' lengthened more than three inches in height, while its shoulders widened by a hand's breadth – some kind of bone-shrinking technique had been used. Then this 'old lady' raised a hand to her face, ripping off a layer of prosthetic wrinkles. This was no wizened hag, but a short and stocky middle-aged man!

This man pointed angrily at Yin Pei, thundering: "Iron-Faced Devil, when you slaughtered all twenty members of my Zou Clan for no reason whatsoever, did you ever think that such a day would come?"

"Zou?" mused Yin Pei, cocking his head to one side. Standing there atop the armrest with his hands clasped behind his back, his emaciated frame swimming in his oversized robes, he looked very much like a vengeful ghost that was liable to float off any second now. "What did they do? When did this happen? I really can't remember."

This man from the Zou Clan looked aghast for a second, before seething: "You little…"

Yin Pei chuckled lowly: "It's simply the law of the jungle, which has prevailed since time immemorial, like how falcons prey on rabbits, and wolves hunt sheep – would you be able to tell me the name that the pork on your plate had when it was still a pig? It's your own fault that you're the meat instead of the butcher."

The stocky man charged at Yin Pei with a roar, while the rest of the pugilists continued fighting with Yin Pei's masked men. While Zhou Fei had been gripping the hilt of Skies Shatter, she suddenly let it go, letting her hand fall to her side. She leaned against the wall of this courtyard, coolly observing the scene unfolding before her.

Wu Chuchu said: "That's strange – if whatever Old Mister Liu placed in that crystal tank can attract those ghastly bugs like moths to a flame, why has only one emerged so far? I remember that back then…"

As she said this, Madame Cirrus, that stocky man, and other pugilists who Zhou Fei didn't recognise tightly surrounded the rattan sedan, and lunged at Yin Pei all at once.

Yin Pei's powers were truly extraordinary, as he showed not the slightest hint of weakness even under such an onslaught.

But his masked men had no such luck, routed in short order thanks to the shifting formation of pugilists engineered by Li Sheng, who had remained hidden this entire time. Then someone blew a long, shrill whistle, and Madame Cirrus gave a shout as she flung a long strip of white silk out at Yin Pei. The rest followed her lead, and a profusion of whips, chains and such were simultaneously lashed at him, entwining themselves round his four limbs.

Yin Pei sneered as his sleeves billowed wildly once more.

Madame Cirrus bellowed: "Retreat!"

All of these pugilists immediately let go of their weapons and backed away from Yin Pei. As soon as they did so, there was a cacophony of cracking, splitting and ripping noises – Yin Pei had used his extraordinary internal strength to shatter this assortment of weapons into smithereens!

Fragments of Madame Cirrus' strip of white silk swirled elegantly in midair like a flutter of snowy butterflies, temporarily obscuring Yin Pei's vision. And right then, the entire floor of this courtyard sunk downwards. With a series of tremendous clanks, twenty-eight massive iron chains came hurtling up from beneath the ground, lashing out at Yin Pei with sudden force.

These iron chains clinked menacingly as they latched onto each other, forming a cage around the fearsome 'Qing Hui Spiritual Master' and trapping him securely within. Yin Pei thrashed around in fury, shaking the very foundations of this courtyard, making its stone slabs rattle precariously. Looks of apprehension emerged on the faces of the pugilists around him, who instinctively backed away further.

Old Mister Liu said: "You shouldn't waste your energy struggling, Qing Hui Spiritual Master. The name of this device is the 'Lock of Earth's Gate', which alongside the 'Lock of Heaven's Gate' is the work of a renowned locksmith from ancient times. Even if you had the power to ascend to the heavens, or burrow to the depths of the earth, there is no way you would be able to break free. The chains have also been smeared with an alcoholic tincture called 'Rush of Fire', which was specially concocted by a poisons expert. This is no poison per se, but all manner of venomous insects and snakes will fall dead drunk once they catch the slightest whiff of it. Those Nirvana Parasites of yours will cause no harm for the time being."

As he said this, someone used gloves to pick up that ghastly bug which had landed on the ground just now and fling it into the flames of a nearby torch. That bug's scaly surface glinted in the fire for a second before it was consumed by the fire, emitting a horribly foul stench.

His crossbow in hand, that stocky fellow marched up to the metal cage and said: "Iron-Faced Devil, I swear to god I'll skin you alive!"

Madame Cirrus furrowed her brow: "Brother Zou, didn't we agree beforehand that we would…"

But the man's eyes were bloodshot with anger: "What did we agree to? Blood must be repaid with blood, as debts must be repaid in full! I bear a mortal grudge against this person – if I do not gouge his heart out today, whither the justice in this world?"

Just as Madame Cirrus opened her mouth to speak, the encaged Yin Pei threw his head back and shook with laughter: "Justice!? Justice!? Ha ha ha ha!"

His laughter was extremely shrill, with a touch of rawest despair to it. It echoed eerily round the Liu Manor like the mournful wails of an aggrieved ghost. And then, the most terrifying thing happened that made everyone's hair stand on end – this laughter grew louder and louder, seeming to reverberate endlessly and even multiply, coming from everywhere and converging into one.

"Justice—"

"Ha ha! Whither justice…"

"Ha ha ha ha…"

Zhou Fei yanked Wu Chuchu back by the shoulder, and shoved her inside a cavern embedded within a large outcropping of fake rock.

Wu Chuchu exclaimed: "Fei!"

"Shhh, don't move, and don't come out." Zhou Fei paused for a moment, before saying half-jokingly: "You're still needed to preserve the martial arts of the central plains!" She glanced over her shoulder at Wu Chuchu with a faint smile.

Wu Chuchu looked aghast at this heavy responsibility that had suddenly come crashing down onto her shoulders.

Just as Zhou Fei had managed to hide Wu Chuchu away, masked men carrying seventeen identical rattan sedans came barging into this courtyard from all directions, each of these sedans bearing seventeen other 'Yin Pei's who looked just like the one currently ensnared within the Lock of Earth's Gate!

All of these 'Yin Pei's spoke at the same time: "Who is it, that dares to kill me?"