chapter 14.1

Meeting the Zhongshan wolf while blocking the way.

The two people (Yang Buhui and Zhang Wuji) walked for half a day, only then did they finally leave the Butterfly Valley. Yang Buhui's feet were small and her legs were short and as a result couldn't walk any further. After resting for a while, they needed to hurry on the road again, repeatedly stopping and starting, so that on the first night they couldn't find a place to stay. They traveled until the sky was dark, but were still randomly travelling on the mountainside. The sounds of owls and wolves nearby made Yang Buhui start crying.

Zhang Wuji was also scared, so when he saw a cave next to the road, he pulled Yang Buhui inside the cave, hugging her and covering up her ears so that she couldn't hear the sounds of the animals. The two children, hungry and scared, suffered for an entire night. In the morning they were able to pick some wild fruit to eat and continued intermittently walking and resting.

Around noon, Yang Buhui suddenly cried out loud, pointing to a tree by the side of the road. When Zhang Wuji took a look, he saw two corpses hanging from a tree. Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui were so scared that they turned around and starting running. They weren't able to run more than ten paces when they tripped over a rock, falling down. Zhang Wuji bravely looked back, and this time was even more startled, blurting out "Mr. Hu!" The corpse hanging from the tree was actually Hu Qingniu. The other corpse had long hair and was apparently a woman; from the appearance of her clothes, it seemed to be Hu Qingniu's wife Wang Nangu. The image of her long hair and corpse blowing in the wind created a dark, chilling air.

Zhang Wuji tried to stay calm and in good spirits, telling himself, "Don't be afraid, Don't be afraid!" He slowly started crawling toward the corpses, verifying that the corpses were Hu Qingniu and Wang Nangu. On each of their faces was something glittering – it turned out that each of them had a golden flower on their face. Zhang Wuji was disappointed, thinking, "so they weren't able to run away from Jing Hua Popo's poisonous hand after all" He saw that in the mountain gorge was a broken carriage and a mule that had drowned in the river. Zhang Wuji really started crying and decided to loosen the ropes, taking down the Hu couple's bodies from the tree.

All of a sudden, there was a "Clap!" sound; a book fell from Wang Nangu's body. Picking it up, he saw it was a handwritten book, titled "Wang Nangu's poison manual." When he flipped it open, he saw that the pages were filled with small print, detailing the toxicity of poisons and how to use them. Not only did it detail how to use poisonous medicine, but also poisonous weeds, snakes, centipedes, scorpions, spiders as well as other strange fish, insects, birds, flowers, fish and trees, leaving out nothing. He decided to keep it without much thought and put the Hu couple side by side, burying them with stones and dirt. He bowed down to the couple before grasping Yang Buhui's hand and continuing with their journey.

Shortly after they reached a large road, which then led them to a small town. Zhang Wuji wanted to buy some food to eat, but as he walked from house to house, they were all empty, without even a single person. They had no choice but to continue their journey.

On the way, they noticed that the cornfields and rice fields were all dried up and desolate. Zhang Wuji was confused and worried, but he saw that Yang Buhui was able to not cry and keep walking which was already rather well-behaved, so what could he do? After a while, they saw next to the road were several corpses, with empty stomachs and sunken in cheeks – it was obvious at first glance that they had starved to death.

The more they walked the more they saw others like this. Zhang Wuji was scared out of his wits, thinking, "Is there really nothing to eat? Are we also going to starve here like this?"

In the evening, they reached a small forest and saw some white smoke emerging into the sky. Zhang Wuji was very happy – they had not seen anyone or any smoke since they had left the Butterfly Valley, so he quickly ran towards the white smoke.

After going near the smoke, they saw two men wearing ragged clothes circling a pot of boiling water, adding firewood under the pot. When the two men heard footsteps, they turned around. When they saw Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui, they burst out with big smiles and jumped up. One of them waved a hand, "Small kids, good, come over here, come over here quickly. Where are the adults that came with you? Where did they go?"

Zhang Wuji said: "There's only the two of us, no adults came with us." The two adults broke out into big smiles, while saying, "What luck, what luck!" Zhang Wuji was so hungry, so he took a look into the big pot to see what it was, only to see grass in boiling water.

One of the men grabbed Yang Buhui in one hand, exclaiming, "This small lamb is so fat and tender! Tonight we can eat until we're full, how nice." The other man said, "Very good, we can eat the little boy tomorrow." Zhang Wuji was very surprised, exclaiming, "What are you doing? Let go of my sister!"

The man ignored him and proceeded to laugh and start to tear off Yang Buhui's clothes, reaching into his boots to take out a knife, saying "It's been a long time since I ate such a fat and tender lamb." He grabbed Yang Buhui to the side, apparently to slaughter her. The other man took a bowl and followed him, saying, "Wasting lamb blood is a pity, we can cook a bowl of lamb blood soup, the flavor's not bad."

Zhang Wuji was scared out of his wits, but he looked at them and it seemed that they really weren't joking. It really looked like they were about to slaughter Yang Buhui, so he yelled loudly, "You want to eat people? You aren't scared of harming heaven?"

The man holding the turkey bowl laughed and said, "Old man hasn't eaten a grain of rice for three months, if I don't eat a person, can I really eat a cow or lamb?"

For fear that Zhang Wuji would run away, he came over to grab Zhang Wuji's neck. Zhang Wuji dodged the man. With his left hand he pulled the man and with his right hand he hit the man's back.

He had learned martial arts from the Blond haired Lion King Xie Xun as well as his Wudang Palms from his parents. So even though these few years he had only learned medicine and had not practiced martial arts, he had good martial arts habits and was able to exert good martial arts. He put forth this palm with great effort, and even someone studying martial arts for many years would've been unable to bear this palm, much less this ordinary village person. That man let out a "Hng!" before fainting and falling to the ground, unable to move.

Zhang Wuji immediately jumped up next to Yang Buhui. The other man exclaimed, "I'll kill you first", raising his knife and striking towards Zhang Wuji's chest.

Zhang Wuji used a move from Wudang Palms called "Wild Goose Wings"; his right foot flew, hitting the man in the wrist. The knife flew out of the man's hand. Zhang Wuji exerted another move called "Yuanyang lianhuan kick", following with another kick to the man's jaw. The man was in the process of opening his mouth to yell at him, but his jaws were forced shut by the kick, resulting in his biting his own tongue in half. Blood spurted out of his mouth and he fainted.

Zhang Wuji hurriedly went over to support Yang Buhui. At the same time, he heard the footsteps of others entering the forest. Yang Buhui was terrified when she heard the sounds of other people and hid herself in Zhang Wuji's arms.

Zhang Wuji raised his head to take a look, but was calmed, shouting, "It's Mr. Jian, Mr. Xue."

Five people had entered the forest. One was KongDong's Jian Jie, and another was Huashan's Xue Gongyuan along with two of his martial brothers. All these people were healed by Zhang Wuji. The last person was an heroic looking approximately twenty year old youth with a broad forehead whom Zhang Wuji had never met before. Jian Jie made a "Heng!", saying, "Brother Zhang, you're here also? What happened to these two people?" As he was saying this, he pointed to the two people on the ground.

Zhang Wuji indignantly told the story of what happened, ending with, "They even dared to eat people, aren't they outlaws?"

Jian Jie was staring at Yang Buhui, when all of a sudden saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, so he licked his lips, saying, "Damn, for five days and five nights I haven't had a grain of rice in my stomach, only eating some tree bark and grass…..En, fine skin and meat, fatty and tender…"

Zhang Wuji saw that Jian Jie had a fire in his eyes, looking like a hungry wolf, with his mouth hanging wide open and his teeth gleaming. He really looked scary, so Zhang Wuji hugged Yang Buhui close to him. Xue Gongyuan asked, "Where is this girl's mother?"

Zhang Wuji thought in his heart: "If I say that Auntie died, they'll have even more evil thoughts." So he said, "Heroine Ji went out to buy some rice, she'll be back soon." Yang Buhui suddenly said, "No, My mom flew up to the sky!"

When Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan heard the two of them speaking, they knew Ji Xiaofu had already died. Xue Gongyuan laughed coldly, saying "Buying rice? If you find a grain of rice within these five hundred kilometers, you'll really have skills." Jian Jie shot a look at Xue Gongyuan, and the two suddenly jumped towards them. Jian Jie's two hands grabbed ahold of Zhang Wuji's shoulders. Xue Gongyuan's left hand covered Yang Buhui's mouth, and with his right hand he picked her up.

Zhang Wuji was startled and shouted, "What are you guys doing?" Jian Jie laughed and said, "In these thousand kilometers in Fengyang province, I've been so hungry I can't stand it anymore. This girl isn't related to you, so we'll split a portion with you later." Zhang Wuji angrily insulted them: "You wrongly claim to be heroes, how can you bully a small orphan? If this gets out, how can you even claim to be human?"

Jian Jie flew into a rage, grabbed him with his left hand and hit him twice on the face, saying, "We'll kill you small beast along with her, we originally thought one small lamb might not've been enough."

Zhang Wuji had just taken care of the two villagers easily, but up against Kongdong's martial artists who had learned decades of martial arts, Zhang Wuji was easily captured and his struggles were in vain.

Xue Gongyuan's two martial brothers took some rope, tying up the two children. Zhang Wuji knew he would have no good luck today, and furiously regretted that he had saved these peoples' lives. People's hearts change quickly; who would know that these people would repay kindness with evil?

Jian Jie said, "Little beast, you healed this old man's head wound, so you've done some good for me, right? You must be hating me in your heart, right?" Zhang Wuji said: "Isn't this paying kindness with evil? I have no debts or business with you, if I didn't help you, how would you four have recovered from those strange diseases?"

Xue Gongyuan laughed and said, "Young man Zhang, after we were injured we've displayed this ugly attitude, we've even let you see it. If this becomes public, it'll be hard for us to live. Today we're starving, if we have no fresh meat in our stomachs, it'll also be hard for us to live. Why don't you save us to the end, save us one more time." Jian Jie was ferocious and scary, but this Xue Gongyuan had a smiling appearance and was cunning and treacherous.

Zhang Wuji, seeing them couldn't help but feel his heart freeze in terror, and shouted loudly: "I'm in Wudang, this sister is part of Emei, if you harm us two, will the Five Heroes of Wudang and MieJue Shitai forgive you?"

Jian Jie was startled and made an "e" sound, feeling that there was some truth in his words – it was not a good idea to provoke Wudang and Emei. Xue Gongyuan laughed and said: "Here only the sky and ground will know, and you and I will know. Once you're in our stomachs, go grumble to Zhang SanFeng."

Jian Jie guffawed, saying: "I'm so hungry fire is about to come out of my stomach, even if you were my brother or son, I'd eat your skin and bones." He turned around and said to Xue Gongyuan's martial brothers: "Quickly bring some fire and cook some soup, what are you waiting for?" Those two got the pot; one of them went to the creek to get water, and the other went to start the fire.

Zhang Wuji said, "Mr. Xue, those two people are already dead, if you're hungry and want to eat people, wouldn't eating them be good?" Xue Gongyuan laughed and said, "These two men are just skin and bones, they're not only old and tough, but hard and stinky, who wouldn't eat tender lamb but eat old sheep instead?"

Zhang Wuji usually would have a brave attitude, if someone was going to hit or kill him, he wouldn't beg to be spared. However, when he was trapped by these evil men, about to be eaten alive, he couldn't help but offer up a few words to try to plead for his life. But Xue Gongyuan instead just jeered repeatedly, "Haha, Wudang's and Emei's disciples claim to be the strongest and rule Jianghu, but today you're going to be eaten bite by bite. It would be really strange if Zhang Sanfeng or Old Nun Miejue knew about this and weren't angered to death."

Enraged, Zhang Wuji shouted, "Mr. Xue, if you have to eat people, then eat me. I just beg you to let this small sister go, then I can die with no regrets." Xue Gongyuan asked, "Why?" Zhang Wuji replied: "When her mother died, she trusted me to bring this little girl to her father. Today, if you eat just me, you will be full, tomorrow you can go buy some cows, lamb, or rice, please spare this little girl."

Jian Jie saw that he was able to fearlessly face danger at such a small age and with such a heroic and chivalrous air. He really thought this was something to be admired and couldn't help but be moved and hesitated, asking, "What should we do?" Xue Gongyuan replied, "Saving this small girl isn't a big deal. However, this may leak out; in the future, when Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou come to find us, Brother Jian should have certain methods to take care of them." Jian Jie nodded his head, saying, "What you said is also true. I'm a fool, never thinking of the future"

While saying these words, the other Huashan disciples returned with the pot of water and put it on the fire. Zhang Wuji knew the situation was urgent and shouted, "Little Sister Buhui, swear an oath to them that in the future you won't speak of today's events." Yang Buhui, confused, just cried out, "Can't eat you, can't eat you!" She didn't understand what Zhang Wuji was saying, but vaguely knew that he was sacrificing himself to protect her.

Meanwhile, the bold looking youth silently sat to the side, not speaking or moving. Jian Jie stared at him for a second, saying, "Xu xiaoshe, if you want to eat lamb, you must also be willing to handle the lamb's body." In the region of Hao Si, they called young men "xiaoshe." That young man replied, "Yes!" He pulled out a small knife from his waist and said, "Killing pigs and cows are my specialty." He clenched the knife in his teeth and carried Yang Buhui and Zhang Wuji in each hand toward the mountain creek.

Zhang Wuji protested loudly and tried to bite his arm but couldn't reach it. Xu xiaoshe walked away for more than ten steps when Xue Gongyuan said, "Xu xiaoshe, slaughter them here!" Xu xiaoshe looked back and replied, "Slaughtering them in the creek is better, it'll be cleaner there." However, the knife was clenched in his teeth so his words were unclear, but his legs didn't slow down at all. Xue Gongyuan said, "If I tell you to stay here, then you'll stay here." He had noticed that Xu xiashe looked kind of strange; he was worried that Xu xiaoshe would run away with the two kids to eat them by himself.

Xu xiaoshe whispered, "Quick, run away!" He put the two of them on the ground and stretched out his knife to cut the ropes that were binding them. Zhang Wuji said, "Thank you for your great kindness in saving our lives." He grabbed Yang Buhui's hand and pulled her up to run away. Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan both shouted and jumped up to chase them. Xu xiaoshe grabbed his knife to block them and shouted, "Stop!"

When Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan saw him with the knife guarding his chest heroically blocking them, they were startled. Jian Jie said, "What are you doing?" Xu xiaoshe said, "If we're walking around Jiang Hu together, bullying the small and the weak, wouldn't we be laughed at by all the heroes under the sky?" Xue Gongyuan indignantly replied, "Hunger is urgent, I would even eat my mother or the old and the young." He waved a hand to his two martial brothers, "Hurry up, chase them!"

Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui couldn't run quickly, especially since he was carrying her. He was already rather small, so carrying her made him even slower. Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan each pulled out their weapons and attacked Mr. Xu. After fighting for a little bit, Jian Jie with a stroke of his knife managed to cut Xu xiaoshe's leg, causing it to drip wet with blood. Xu xiaoshe couldn't hold out any longer and suddenly lifted up his knife and threw it towards Xue Gongyuan. Xue Gongyuan ducked to the side, and Xu xiaoshe managed to rush out.

Xue Gongyuan and Jian Jie didn't chase him, instead going after Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui. Mr. Xu from far away shouted, "Brother Zhang, don't be nervous, I'll go find helpers to help you," Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan worked together and managed to again capture Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui. Jian Jie stared at Xue Gongyuan, shouting, "This person named Xu isn't a good person, why would you travel with him?"

Xue Gongyuan said, "This companion I randomly bumped into on the road, how would I know whether he's good or bad? He said his surname was Xu, named something like Xu Da. Don't listen to him, the sky's black already, where would he go to find help around here?" One of the Huashan disciples said, "Listening to his accent, he's native to this Fengyang Prefect, haha, even if he brought some country bumpkins here, we wouldn't be scared of them." Jian Jie laughed, "Fengyang's people are so hungry they can't even crawl. Let's quickly cook these two lambs into a delicious meal, it is right to eat a full meal."

This was the second time Zhang Wuji was captured; he was hit until his nose and mouth were blue and swollen and his clothes were torn. His possessions and money were all scattered on the ground. He thought in his heart, "So this Mr. Xu's name was Xu Da, this man is a good friend, too bad my life is so short and can't be better friends with him." When he bowed his head down to the ground, he saw a handwritten yellow-papered book on the ground blowing in the wind. This was the Wang Nanggu poison manual taken from Wang Nangu's body. His eyes followed the words on the page and noticed that "poisonous mushrooms" was written, with small words detailing the forms of poisonous mushrooms such as their odor, color, toxicity, antidotes, type after type. His heart was in turmoil, how could he take this into his head?

All of a sudden when he glanced to the left, he saw that about four or five feet away, under some rotten tree bark, were more than ten mushrooms with vivid colors. His heart jumped and he thought, "What type of mushroom is this? I don't know whether there's poison or not on it. The poison manual says that most poisonous mushrooms have vivid colors. If these poisonous mushrooms are toxic, there is hope to save Sister Buhui's life.

At this time he already wasn't thinking of his own life, as he already had the cold poison inside him that was difficult to expel. If he managed to run away with his life today, he would only live for a few months anyways, so he really only hoped to save Yang Buhui. He sat on the ground, slowly moving his feet and bottom and turned his body around, reaching out his hand to pick those mushrooms. At this time the sky already was black; everyone was ready for the fire to burn, so nobody really paid attention to him. Zhang Wuji suddenly turned his eyes to the direction that Xu Da had run, jumping up and down and shouting, "Brother Xu, you've brought people here, save us! Save us!"

Jian Jie and the others thought it was real, so the four of them grabbed their weapons and jumped up. Zhang Wuji took advantage of the four of them looking for Xu Da and backed up two steps, putting the mushrooms into the iron pot. Jian Jie and the others didn't see anyone and started cursing, "Little bastard, even if you become crazy nobody's going to come help you." Xue Gongyuan said, "Prepare the knife, who wants to start?" Jian Jie said, "I'll kill the small girl, you kill that guy." As he was saying this he took his hand and grabbed Yang Buhui.

Zhang Wuji said, " Mr. Xue, my throat's really thirsty, can you give me some hot soup, that way when I die my ghost won't bother you. Xue Gongyuan said, "Alright, what's wrong with letting you drink some soup?" Xue Gongyuan scooped some hot soup into the bowl for him. Before the soup reached his mouth, Zhang Wuji loudly shouted, "How tasty! How tasty!" Indeed, once the mushrooms had been boiling in the pot, they released a fragrant smell. Xue Gongyuan had been hungry for a long time, so when he smelled the fragrant soup, he grabbed Zhang Wuji's soup and drank it into his stomach, licking his lips and saying, "Really fresh!"

Jian Jie reached out and grabbed the bowl and also drank a large mouthful, and once again drank another bowl. Xue Gongyuan and the other two Huashan disciples also drank two bowls, so that when the two bowls of hot soup were in their stomachs, they felt an unspeakable comfort. Jian Jie even took the mushrooms in the put and ate them. Nobody even asked where the mushrooms were from. After Jian Jie ate the mushroom, he patted his stomach, laughing, "First eat some appetizers, then eat the lamb."

His left hand raised Yang Buhui behind him, and his right hand raised a knife. Zhang Wuji saw that after many people drank the mushroom soup there was no effect, so in his heart he thought that the mushrooms didn't have poison after all and could not help but feel bitter. Jian Jie took two steps when all of a sudden, he shouted, "Aiyo!" His body faltered for a few moments before he fell on the ground, throwing Yang Buhuia and the knife to the side. Xue Gongyuan was startled and asked, "Brother Jian, what happened?" He ran over to look down at his body. When he stooped down, he also couldn't stand up straight anymore and fell on Jian Jie's body. The other two Huashan disciples also were poisoned and died miserably.

Wuji shouted loudly, "Thank heaven and earth!" He rolled over to the knife and grasped the knife, cutting Yang Buhui's ropes. Yang Buhui's trembling hands also managed to cut Zhang Wuji's ropes after wounding his palms a few times. Having just escaped from death, the two of them were exceedingly happy and hugging each other. When Zhang Wuji went to see the four other people, he just saw that every person's face had turned black and that their muscles were warped. Their bodies were really scary and he thought, "That Wang Nangu's poison manual really is valuable, I'll keep it with me and resolve to really study it carefully."

Zhang Wuji carried Yang Buhui's hand and left the forest. They traveled along Yaomi road, when suddenly from the east they saw light from a torch. There were seven or eight people grasping their weapons and running quickly towards them. Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui hid in the underbrush.

Xuda was very happy and hugged him, saying, "Brother Zhang, you have such a chivalrous character, not to mention among children, even among adults it's hard to find such a person. I was scared that you'd be harmed by those evil thieves, fortunately there's good news and the evil receive their punishment, this is a good judgment.

When they asked how Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan were poisoned, Zhang Wuji told them the story of cooking the mushrooms in the soup. Everyone praised him as clever. Xuda said, "These are all my good friends, they slaughtered a bull. A large fire is at Huang Jue Si Temple where the meat is being cooked. I went to find them and they all came. But if it weren't for Brother Zhang's cleverness, we still would've come too late." He introduced everyone to Zhang Wuji. One one side, a big eared guy was named Tang He, another heroic, exuberant one was named Deng Yu, a black faced, tall one was named Hua Yun; of two fair skinned brothers, the older one was named Wu Liang, and the younger was named Wu Zhen. The last one was a monk; his appearance was very ugly, with a protruding chin, resembling an iron shovel. Many scars and moles were on his face, and he had two sunken in eyes that were bright and unusually. Xuda said, "This person is Brother Zhu, his given name is Yuanzhang. He became a monk in Huang Juesi temple.

Hua Yun laughed and said, "He is an unconventional, happy monk, not one of those who loves to read Buddhist scriptures and worship Buddha, drinking wine and eating meat all day. When Yang Buhui saw Zhu Yuanzhang's ugly appearance, she felt afraid in her heart and hid behind Zhang Wuji. Zhu Yuangzhang laughed and said, "Even though this Buddhist monk eats meat, I don't eat people, so little sister doesn't need to be afraid." Tang He said, "The beef we've been cooking in that pot should be ready now." Hua Yun said, "Let's go! Little sister, I'll carry you." He carried Yang Buhui on his back, walking with big steps. When Zhang Wuji saw this capable man was so happy and outgoing, he was also happy in his heart.

When they had walked around two and a half kilometers, they arrived at a temple. They walked inside the main hall and noticed the fragrant aroma of the roasting meet. Wu Liang said, "It's done, it's cooked!" Xuda said, "Brother Zhang, rest here, we'll get the meat ready.

Deng Yu clapped his hands and said, "Brother Xu's words are insightful, eat! Eat!"

When they were eating and drinking, all of a sudden there was the sound of footsteps outside the door. Soon after, someone knocked on the door. Tang He jumped up and shouted, "Aiya! Zhang's household is outside searching for this cow!" The door was opened, and in came two servants, heroic looking with protruding chests and bellies. One person shouted, "Alright! Our house's big cow was actually stolen by you guys and eaten!" When he said this, he grabbed Zhu Yuanzhang. The other one said, "You lowly monk, today your entire club is here sharing the spoils, where can you run to? Tomorrow we'll send you to the mansion, and kill you by hitting you to death with a wooden board."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "You're really speaking rubbish, how would you dare blame us for stealing that cow? Monks eat vegetables and pray to Buddha. If you're accusing me of eating meat, isn't this committing a great sin?" The heroic servant pointed to the meat inside of the plate, saying, "This isn't beef?"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave a signal with his eyes and laughed, "Who says this is beef?" The Wu Liang and Wu Zhen brothers walked up to the two servants and with a shout, grabbed the two men's arms. Zhu Yuanzhang took out a short dagger from his pocket and laughed, "Two brothers, I don't want to hide this from you, what we're eating isn't beef, but human meat. Today you've seen this, so we'll just have to eat you so you won't talk and leak this out. With a "chi" sound, one of the servant's clothes was torn and the knife produced a line of blood on his chest. The heroic servant was really startled, even begging, "Spare us, spare our lives!" Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed a piece of beef and stuffed into the two servant's mouths, saying, "Swallow it!"

The two of them even didn't dare to chew it and swallowed it into their stomachs. Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "You can go out and tell your master we've stolen your cow, we can then cut open your stomachs and say, who're the ones that have eaten the beef, not even cleaning off the hair?" He flipped over the knife, dragging a line along their bellies. That person just felt a cold, icy knife on his stomach and was scared out of wits, screaming. The Wu brothers laughed, lifted up their legs and kicked the two out of the palace hall. Everyone was relieved and started eating quickly, laughing and insulting the two servants who had asked for their miserable experience. On normal days, the Zhang household would bully around the villagers. This time, they were so scared about their bellies being cut open, they surely wouldn't go out and tell them about everyone stealing the cow.

Zhang Wuji thought his actions were funny and admirable and pondered, "Despite this monk's ungly appearance, his behavior is upright and refreshing. His methods are really formidable." Zhu Yuanzhang had heard Xuda tell the story of how Zhang Wuji was willing to sacrifice himself to save Yang Buhui's life and was really fond of this chivalrous youth. He didn't treat him as a normal child, instead proposing a toast to him and treating him like a good friend. They drank until they were intoxicated, when Deng Yu said, "Us Han people have really endured the oppression of these barbarians, receiving an era of their dirty farts. Until today we haven't been able to have a good meal. If these days go on, how can we take it?" Hua Yun clapped his leg and said, "Half of the common people in Fengyang prefecture have died, really half of all the people under heaven have died of starvation, why don't we stake all of it and fight those Tartars?"

Xuda said with a clear voice, "Today people's lives have been put on the same level as dogs and goats. This good little brother and sister nearly went into people's stomachs. Under the sky, who knows how many common people have become like cows and sheep? If upright men can't help all these people, living is really living in vain." Tang He also said, "Not bad, our luck was good today, we managed to find a cow to slaughter and eat, tomorrow we may not necessarily find one to steal. Everyone doesn't have enough clothes and food, do even upright men and heroes have to become thieves?"

As these people spoke they became more and more furious and began insulting the Tartars for inflicting suffering on them. Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We're randomly insulting these people here, but these insults aren't even going to hurt a hair on these Tartars. If we're really heroic, we should go to kill these Tartars!" Tang He, Deng Yu, Hua Yun, and the Wu brothers all yelled together, "Let's go!"

Xuda said, "Big Brother Zhu, you don't need to be this hard-working monk anymore. You're the oldest, we'll all listen to your words." Zhu Yuanzhang also didn't decline and said, "After today, we will live and die together, whether we have fortune or problems we will share it together." Everyone raised their bowl of wine together and drank it down, slamming their knives into the table with a heroic air. Yang Buhui looked at everyone, not understanding what they were saying and was inwardly scared.

Zhang Wuji thought, Zhang Sanfeng Tai Shifu warned me repeatedly not make friends with these people in the Mo Jiao. But Chang Yucun and Brother Xu are all within the Mo Jiao. They're far better than Jian Jie, Xue Gongyuan, these disciples in the righteous branch by tens of thousands of times. He always admired Zhang Sanfeng to the highest degree, but from his experience, he thought Zhang Sanfeng had some prejudice towards them in his heart. However, he also thought that he shouldn't go against his Tai Shifu's wishes. Zhu Yuangzhang said, "Good Han people will do what they say, this time when we eat full is just the right time to do things. The Zhang household invited the Tartar officers and soldiers to dinner today, let's go capture and kill them. Hua Yun said, "Wonderful! " and grabbed his knife and stood up.

Xuda exclaimed, "Hold on a minute!" He went to the kitchen to get a basket and filled it with fourteen or fifteen pounds of beef to give to Zhang Wuji. He said, "Brother Zhang, your age is still small, you can't follow us to this shady business of rebelling and killing government officials. Us small group of people are so poor, without money on our bodies, so we must give this meat to you. If we luckily don't burn to death, we will see each other in the future and eat some beef together.

Zhang Wuji took the basket and replied, "I hope that you will perform a great service and wipe out these Tartars in order to let these common people under the sky have some food to eat." Zhu Yuanzhang, Xuda, Tanghe, Deng Yu all heard what he said and clapped and praised what he said, saying: "Brother Zhang, what you said is really correct, we hope that we will have some time together in the future."

As they said this they exited the temple, each carrying their weapons. Zhang Wuji thought in his heart, "They are going to go kill the Tartars, if I wasn't accompanying this little sister, I would also go with them. They only have seven people and are not the enemy's match. Zhang Yuan's house have Tartars who may follow them here to kill them so I can't really stay in this temple anymore. So he took his basket of beef and took Yang Buhui outside the temple. After traveling in the dark for four or five miles, suddenly they saw that to the north there was a red light rising to the sky and knew that Zhu Yuanzhang and Xuda were successful and had burnt down Zhang Yuan's manor, making them very happy. At night the two of them slept on a mountain plain, and in the morning they proceeded westward. The two children endured wind, frost, hunger, and cold while walking along the road, making them exhausted. Fortunately Yang Buhui's parents were martial artists, so her own physique was healthy and strong so a small girl traveling for such a long distance was able to avoid sickness. On the way, she did have some colds, so Zhang Wuji picked some herbal medicine and was able to cure it. Every day they did have to rest, so they could only cover 20 or 30 miles in a day. After about fifteen or sixteen days, they reached Henan province.

There wasn't much difference between Henan and Anhui province – everywhere they went, there was famine and people were dying of starvation. Zhang Wuji made a bow and arrow and managed to shoot some birds and animals – one day they would be full, and another they would be hungry, slowly making their way east. Fortunately, they did not run into the Mongolian military, and they also did not run into any Jiang Hu people. As for those ordinary criminals with evil thoughts, how would they match up with Zhang Wuji? One day they ran into an old man and told him they wanted to go to the summit of Mt. Kunlun. This old man was startled and raised his eyebrows, saying, "Little brother, Kunlun Mountain is still about 180000 gong li ( a gong li =0.5 km) away, I heard that a Tang monk only went there to fetch some scriptures. You little kids aren't crazy are you? Where do you live? Quickly go back home!" When Zhang Wuji heard this, he couldn't help but feel disappointed, thinking, "Kunlun Mt. is so far, it's really impossible to go there, so the best thing to do is to go to Wudang to see Grandmaster first." But then he thought: "Someone trusted in me, even though the road is far, how can one stop in the middle? My own life is not long, if I can't send Sister Buhui before I die, I really can't be forgiven by Aunt Ji. So without saying anything else to the old man, he pulled up Yang Buhui and continued their journey.

Later, after walking for more than twenty days, the two children's clothing were tattered, their appearances were wan and sallow. The thing that vexed Zhang Wuji most was that Yang Buhui constantly asked for her Mama. She would frequently cry for half a day because Mama did not fly back down from the sky. Zhang Wuji tried his best to distract her by telling her stories, by saying that their journey to the west this time was also to look for her Mama, by making faces and all kinds of things that would turn her tears into laughter.

One particular day they arrived at Zhumadian [a city in Henan]. It was the end of autumn, early winter. The new moon wind was blowing hard. Since the two children only had the clothes on their backs, they were shivering incessantly. Zhang Wuji took out his tattered outer garment and put it on Yang Buhui.

"Wuji Gege," Yang Buhui asked, "Aren't you cold?"

"I am not cold," Zhang Wuji replied, "I feel unbearably hot," while doing some jumping jacks to keep himself warm.

"You are so good to me!" Yang Buhui said, "I know you are cold, but you give your clothes to me." The little girl spoke like an adult, Zhang Wuji could not help but feel astonished.

Right that moment, they heard the sound of clashing weapons coming from the other side of the hill, followed by footsteps coming closer. A female voice called out, "Evil thief, you have been hit by my 'wei du sang men' nail [lit. feed the poison, mourning gate, loose translation: as soon as you are hit, you are at the death door]. The faster you run, the quicker the poison will flare-up!"

Zhang Wuji quickly pulled Yang Buhui to hide under the bush by the roadside. They saw a sturdy-looking man, about thirty some years of age, flying their way. Several 'zhang's behind him, a woman ran after him with a pair of sabers in her hand. The man staggered, his legs turned weak and he stumbled down on the ground.

The woman soon arrived by his side. "Finally, you will be dead under the Miss' hands!" she called out.

The man suddenly sprang up and struck her with his right palm. 'Bang!' the palm hit the woman's chest. The force behind the strike was very strong. The woman fell backwards the pair of sabers in her hands was flung far away.

The man reached to his back to pull the nail out. "Give me the antidote," he said hatefully.

The woman laughed coldly and said, "This time Shifu ordered us to pursue and capture you; he gave us the poisonous secret projectiles, but did not give us the antidote. Since I have fallen into your hands, I accept my fate, but do not even think that you can live either."

With the saber in his left hand on her throat, the man's right hand searched inside her pocket, and sure enough, there was no antidote. The man got very angry. He took the 'wei du sang men' nail and stabbed the woman shoulder with all his might. He roared, "Now you can taste your own 'wei du sang men' nail! You, Kunlun Pai …" Before he finished speaking, the poison on his back flared up and he crumpled to the ground.

The woman struggled to crawl up; but 'wah!' after vomiting a mouthful of blood, she fell back down. She pulled the nail on her shoulder and tossed it to the ground. The man and the woman both lied on the grass by the roadside. Their breathing was labored; they constantly gasped for air.

Ever since he treated Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan and almost died in their hands, Zhang Wuji was extremely wary towards the Wulin characters. This time, as he watched the drama unfold in front of him, he did not dare to come out.

After a while the man heaved a long sigh and said, "Today I, Su Xizhi, will lose my life at Zhumadian; yet I still do not know my offense against the Kunlun Pai. I will die with my eyes wide open. You have pursued me for a thousand 'li' and determined to kill me, in the end, what was that for? Miss Zhan, why don't you be nice and tell me!" There was no trace of hostility in his voice anymore.

The woman, Zhan Chun, knew her school's 'wei du sang men' nail was very fierce, so she realized that both of them were going to die together. She was completely disheartened and quietly said, "Who told you to peek when Shifu was training his sword technique? This technique, the 'Kun Lun Liang Yi Jian' [double-appearance sword], should be personally taught by him, the Senior, if anybody is caught looking without permission, even our own School's disciple must suffer punishment by his or her eyes being gouged; much less you, an outsider?"

"Ah," Su Xizhi exclaimed. "Damn it! Should die! Should die!" he cursed.

Zhan Chun angrily said, "Your death is imminent, you still cursed my Shifu?"

Su Xizhi said, "I want to curse him. What are you going to do? Isn't this injustice? I was just passing through Bai Niu Shan [White Ox Mountain], and accidentally saw that your Shifu was practicing his sword. Because I was curious, I stopped and watched for a moment. Do you think that by watching for a moment I would be able to master this sword technique? If I have that kind of ability, how can you, a bunch of Kunlun disciples, possibly defeat me? Miss Zhan, let me tell you this: your Shifu, Tie Qin Xiansheng [Mister Iron 'Qin' – zither] is too narrow-minded. Not to mention that I did not learn even half a stance of the Kunlun Liang Yi Jian, even if I did, can you really say that I have committed a capital crime?"

Zhan Chun was silent. Inwardly she agreed that her master had made a big fuss over a minor issue. Just because he found out that Su Xizhi saw him launching the sword technique, he dispatched six disciples to pursue and kill him for thousands of 'li'. In the end, she was going to die together with this man. She believed at this moment this man had no reason to lie, so if he said that he did not steal the martial art technique, then she believed he was telling the truth.

Su Xizhi also said, "He gave you these Wei Du secret projectiles, but did not give you the antidote. Is there such custom within the Wulin world? Damn it …"

In a soft voice Zhan Chun said, "Su Dage [big brother], Xiaomei [little sister – referring to self] has harmed you. Right now my heart is heavy with regret. It's good that I will accompany you to the other world. This is called fate. I only feel sorry for your family, your wife and children [Translator's note: the original Chinese text was much more polite; she called his wife 'Da Sao' (eldest sister-in-law), and the children 'gongzi' and 'xiaojie' (young master and young miss).] I really have no idea what I had done."

Su Xizhi sighed and said, "My woman died two years ago, leaving behind a boy and a girl to me, one is six years old, the other is four. Tomorrow they will become orphans with no father and no mother."

"Do you have any other family member?" Zhan Chun asked, "Anybody to look after the children?"

"Presently my sister-in-law is looking after them," Su Xizhi said, "But she is rather short-tempered; oftentimes she is mean and unreasonable, I think she is a bit jealous of me. Ay! From now on these two babies will have to suffer a lot of pains."

Zhan Chun said in a low voice, "It's all my fault."

Su Xizhi shook his head and said, "I can't blame you on this. You have received your school's strict order, and thus have no choice but to obey; it's not like you have a personal enmity against me. In fact, after I got hit with your Wei Du secret projectile, I will certainly die; why should I strike you with my palm and use the secret projectile to injure you? Otherwise, I am saying this with all honestly: I know you have a good conscience, certainly you would be willing to look after my two cruel-fated children."

Forcing a smile, Zhan Chun said, "I am the murderer who killed you, how can you say I have a good conscience?"

Su Xizhi said, "I really do not blame you, I do not blame you at all."

Just now, the two of them were fighting a life and death battle, but as they realized they were going to die soon, they both were reluctant to leave the world of the living and their hearts were filled with nothing but kindness and goodwill.

Listening to this point, Zhang Wuji thought, "Looks like these man and woman are not bad people; besides, that surnamed Su still have two small children." Remembering the hardship Yang Buhui and he suffered because they were orphans, he came out of his hiding place underneath the bushes and said, "Miss Zhan, do you know the kind of poison you have on your Wei Du nail?" To see a teenager and a little girl suddenly appear from the bushes, Su Xizhi and Zhan Cun had already felt strange. They were even more surprised to hear Zhang Wuji asking the question.

hang Wuji said, "I have a rudimentary knowledge of medicine. Gentleman and Lady have been poisoned, you might not be beyond help."

Zhan Chun said, "What kind of poison, I may not know. But the wound is unbearably itchy. My Shifu said that after one got hit by this Sang Men nail, one will have only eight hours to live."

Zhang Wuji said, "Let me have a look at the wound."

Su and Zhan, two people noticed that he was young, his clothes were raggedy, his entire body was filthy; in short, he looked more like a beggar to them, what could he possibly know about treating poison wound?

In a rough voice Su Xizhi said, "Look, our lives are in danger. This is not a place for children to create trouble. Just go far away from me, alright?"

Zhang Wuji did not pay him any attention; he picked the Sang Men nail from the ground and sniffed it. He smelled a whiff of faint fragrance of flower. These days, whenever he had some time during their journey, he would flip the pages of Wang Nangu's 'Poison Manual', to acquaintance himself with the fantastic oddities of every description of the poisons and venoms around the world. As soon as he smelled this kind of aroma, he knew at once that the poison on the Sang Men nail was from the blue 'tuo luo' flower [Datura stramonium(?)]. The Poison Manual did say that the juice of this flower's original smell was stinky like dead fish. In itself, it was not poisonous, even if one to drink an entire bowl it would not bring the least bit of harm, but as soon as it is mixed with blood, it would turn into deadly poison, while its smell would turn fragrant.

"This is the poison from the 'tuo luo' flower," Zhang Wuji said.

Zhan Chun did not know what kind of poison was applied on the Sang Men nails, but she knew that there was indeed this kind of flower in her Shifu's flower garden. "Ah," she exclaimed in surprise, "How do you know?" The blue 'tuo luo' flower was a very rare poisonous flower; it originated from the western region, and had never been found in the central China.

Zhang Wuji nodded. "I know," he said. Taking Yang Buhui's hand, he said, "Let's go."

"Xiao Xiongdi [little brother]," Zhan Chun busily said, "If you know the treatment, please be kind and save our lives."

At first, Zhang Wuji was considering to help them, however, he suddenly remembered the evil expressions on Jian Jie and Xue Gongyuan's faces when they were about to eat them, he could not help but hesitate.

Su Xizhi said, "Xiao Xianggong [young master], I [orig. zaixia – the lowly or humble one] have eyes but failed to see an expert; please do not blame me."

"Alright," Zhang Wuji said, "Let me have a try." Taking some golden needles from his pocket, he pierced the 'shan zhong xue' [lit. sheep's odor acupoint] on Zhan Chun's chest, and the 'que pen xue' [empty basin acupoints] on her left and right shoulders, to stop the pain in her chest due to the palm injury she received earlier.

"This 'tuo luo' flower will become poisonous as soon as it meets the blood," he said, "But it will not create any harm if it enters the stomach. The two of you need to suck each other's wound first, until the blood is free of any coagulation."

Su Xizhi and Zhan Chun were embarrassed and felt uncomfortable, but right now, their lives were more important, besides, there was no way they would be able to suck their own wounds. Therefore, left with no other choice, they sucked the poisonous blood from each other's wound.

Zhang Wuji picked three kinds of herbal medicine by the hillside; he chewed it until it was mushy and then applied it on the two people's wounds. "These three types of herbal medicine can temporarily stop the attack of the poison, but it is ineffective to drive the poison completely out of your systems," he said, "We must go to the next town and look for a drugstore, and then I will mix the medicine to treat your poison."

Originally, the wounds on Su and Zhan, two people, were unbearably itchy, but as soon as the herbal medicine was applied, they felt cool and comfortable, while at the same time their limbs were no longer numb and weak. At once they repeatedly expressed their gratitude.

Each one of them broke a tree branch to use it as a crutch, then helping each other, they slowly continued their journey ahead. Zhan Chun asked Zhang Wuji's school and origin. Zhang Wuji did not want to explain the truth, he simply said that he understood medicine since his childhood.

After walking for more than two hours, they arrived at the town of Shahe [in Hebei province]. The four of them found an inn to rest. Zhang Wuji wrote a prescription and Su Xizhi had an inn-helper to get the medicine. By this time, the area west of Henan and Hebei had not suffered disaster; although the Mongolian government officers practiced unruly and tyrannical cruelty, they were not in the least different than any other places, the common people still had food to eat. The shops and inns in Shahe were open for business as usual. As soon as the inn-helper returned with the medicine, Zhang Wuji cooked it and fed it to Su Xizhi and Zhan Chun.

The four of them stayed in the inn for three days. Each day Zhang Wuji changed the prescription. He applied the medicine externally as well as internally. By the fourth day, the poison in Su Xizhi and Zhan Chun's bodies had been completely eradicated. The two of them profusely expressed their gratitude; they asked Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui's destination. Zhang Wuji mentioned the name of Zuo Wang Peak of the Kunlun Mountain.

"Su Dage," Zhan Chun said, "We owe our lives to this Xiao Xiongdi. However, my five Shixiong [martial brother] are still out there looking for you. This matter has not been brought to completion yet. What do you say you come with me going up Mount Kunlun?"

Su Xizhi was stunned. "Going up Mount Kunlun?" he asked.

"That's right," Zhan Chun said, "I will accompany you to pay a visit to my master. We will explain that you have not learned even half a stance of the Kunlun Liang Yi Jian. If we do not resolve this matter with him, the Senior, you will face an endless disaster in the future."

Su Xizhi was angry in his heart, he said, "You, Kunlun Pai, bully others too much. I just took one look and I nearly entered the gates of hell. Isn't that enough?"

"Su Dage," Zhan Chun said in gentle voice, "Please think about the difficulty Xiao Mei has to face. It's not a problem for me to explain to my Shifu that you did not draw any advantage in sword technique from watching him; however, if my five Shixiong get hold of you and harm you, how would Xiao Mei feel?"

After going through life and death situation together for several days, their affection to each other grew. Listening to her gentle words full of tender feeling, Su Xizhi's anger subsided at once. He also thought, "Kunlun Pai is strong in numbers; if they do not stop harassing me, eventually I will lose my life under their hands."

Seeing him hesitate, Zhan Chun continued, "Please come with me first. Whatever important matter you need to attend, Xiao Mei will come with you and together we will deal with it after our visit to Mount Kunlun. What do you say?"

Su Xizhi was delighted. "Alright," he said, "Let's do it this way. Only I wonder whether Zun Shi [revered master] would trust me?"

Zhan Chun said, "Usually Shifu is very fond of me. If I earnestly ask him, I am sure he will not make things difficult for you. As soon as this matter is settled, Xiao Mei is thinking of visiting your young master and young miss, so that they will not be bullied by your sister-in-law."

Hearing the way she talked, Su Xizhi knew the feeling between them was mutual; he was very happy. To Zhang Wuji he said, "Xiao Xiongdi, let us go up the Mount Kunlun together, so that we will keep each other company."

Zhan Chun said, "The Kunlun Mountains stretch for thousands of 'li'; I don't even know how many peaks there are. I don't know where that Zuo Wang Peak is, but if our Kunlun Pai is looking for a peak on Kunlun Mountains, I am sure we will find it."

The next day, Su Xizhi hired a large cart for Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui to ride, while Zhan Chun and he rode on horsebacks. When they arrived at the next bigger town, Zhan Chun bought several sets of clothes for Zhang Wuji and Yang Buhui. After they changed clothes, they were transformed into totally different persons. Su and Zhan two people cheered loudly as they saw the change in appearances on this pair of children; the boy looked so handsome and the girl so pretty. Until that day, these two children had been travelling a long and arduous journey; after having good meals, they gradually turned into a pair of healthy children.

They went farther and farther to the west, the weather also turned colder and colder. Fortunately, they had Su Xizhi and Zhan Chun looking after them, so they had a pleasant journey. When they reached the western region, Kunlun Pai's influence was strongly felt; there was even less obstruction. Only, the yellow sand assaulted their faces and the cold wind penetrated their bones, making the journey hard to endure. In less than a day they had arrived at the Mount Kunlun's San Sheng Ao [three-sage cavity/valley]. Everywhere they looked, there was green grass like a carpet, with fruit trees and flower bushes. Su Xizhi and Zhang Wuji had never imagined that there would be such a beautiful place like this in this desolate desert, they were delighted. Turned out the San Sheng Ao was surrounded on all sides by skyscraping mountain peaks, which protect it from the cold winds.

Ever since 'Kunlun San Sheng' [Three Sages of Kunlun] He Zudao, the successive Sect Leaders had spent considerable effort and meticulous care to conserve and tidy up this valley in the next seventy, eighty years. They dispatched the disciples as far as Jiang Nan [general term referring to the area south of Yangtze River] on the east, and Tianzhu [Indian subcontinent] on the west, to collect rare flowers and extraordinary trees to be cultivated this valley.

Zhan Chun took the three of them to 'Tie Qin Ju' [Iron Zither Residence], where Tie Qin Xiansheng, He Taichong took his residence. As they entered the door, she saw hat a crowd of her martial brothers and sisters were gathered inside with worried looks on their faces. They only nodded their acknowledgement to her without saying anything. Zhan Cun shivered inwardly, she wondered what had happened. Pulling a younger martial sister aside, she asked, "Is Shifu home?"

The female disciple had not yet replied when they heard He Taichong roar in violent rage coming from the inner chamber, "What a useless bunch! A useless bunch! [orig. fan tong – 'rice bucket'] Everything I ask you to do, nothing is done properly. What use do I have of these worthless [orig. nong bao – wrap cloth of a boil or a wound] disciples?" followed by an earth-shattering noise of a table being slapped.

Zhan Chun turned toward Su Xizhi and said, "Shifu is having a fit of temper, we'd better not bump against the nail, let's come back tomorrow."

"Is that Chun'er?" suddenly He Taichong called out, "What are you doing whispering sneakily? Have you severed the head of that little thief surnamed Su?"

Zhan Chun's face changed; she scrambled toward the inner chamber, kneeled down and kowtowed. "Disciple pays her respects to Shifu," she said.

He Taichong said, "I sent you to do something for me. How was it? How is that little thief surnamed Su?"

"That man surnamed Su is outside," Zhan Chun replied, "He comes to kowtow and apologize to Shifu. He said he did not realize his offense; or else he would not have watched Shifu practice the sword technique. But our School's sword technique is most refined and subtle that as soon as he looked, he knew it was a brilliant sword move, unparalleled in the world. However, he did not have any luck that it was all an unfathomable mystery to him; in the end, he did not have the slightest comprehension."

She had followed her master for quite some time; she knew he was extremely proud of his own martial art skill. Therefore, she said that Su Xizhi highly commended their school's martial art. If her master was happy, then he might forgive Su Xizhi.

Normally, this conceited He Taichong would take things lightly, but today his mood was greatly agitated. "Humph," he snorted, "You dealt with this matter well! Confine that surnamed Su in the stone building behind the mountain. I'll punish him later."

Zhan Chun realized he was still in a fit of temper, so she did not dare to press further. "Yes!" she said; then she asked, "Are Shimu [master wives] all well? Let me pay my respects inside."

Altogether, He Taichong had five wives and concubines. The one he loved most was the youngest, the fifth concubine. Zhan Chun was thinking that in order to seek forgiveness for Su Xizhi, she would need this 'Wu Shimu' [Fifth Master Wife] to speak on their behalf.

He Taichong's face suddenly turned sorrowful, he heaved a deep sigh and said, "It's alright for you to see 'Wu Gu' [fifth (paternal) aunt], she has been very sick. It's good that you returned this quick so that you can still see her face."

Zhan Chun was startled. "Wu Gu is not feeling well?" she asked, "I wonder what kind of sickness?"

He Taichong sighed again. "If we know the sickness, then we can help her. We have had seven, eight supposedly famous doctors to examine her, but they can't even tell what sickness she is suffering. Her whole body swells; a woman as beautiful as flower and jade, swollen … Ay, I don't want to talk about it …" He repeatedly shook his head, and then he continued, "I have this many disciples, but all are just a useless bunch. I told them to Changbai Shan [Mount Changbai, Jilin province] to look for thousand-year ginseng. They have been gone for two months, yet nobody returned. I told them to look for Xue Lian [snow lotus (Saussurea involucrata)], or other miracle drug, yet everybody returned empty handed."

Zhan Chun mused, "Changbai Shan is ten thousand 'li' away from this place, how can they promptly return? Even after reaching Changbai Shan, they might not necessarily find the thousand-old ginseng. As for Xue Lian or other miracle drug, which can bring the dead back to life, it's not likely that we can find it even if we look for it our entire lives, much less in a short time? How can there be such convenience?" She knew her master loved this young concubine as much as he loved his own life. Now that she had fallen seriously ill, no wonder he vented his anger to others.

He Taichong continued, "I transmitted my internal energy through her 'chi' passage, but it did not make the least bit of difference. Humph, humph, if Wu Gu's life cannot be saved, I am going to kill all useless physicians in the world."

"Let disciple come and visit her," Zhan Chun said.

"Fine, let me come with you," He Taichong said.

The master and disciple went together to the Fifth Aunt's chamber. As soon as Zhan Chun walked through the door, her nostrils were assaulted by strong odor of medicine. Upon opening the mosquito net, she saw the Fifth Aunt's face was swollen like Zhu Bajie [the pig-face character in the Journey to the West]; her eyes were buried deep underneath the swollen flesh that she almost could not open her eyes. Her breathing was so heavy that it sounded like the bellows a blacksmith. The Fifth Aunt was originally a beautiful woman; He Taichong would not be this infatuated with her otherwise. However, because of the illness she had turned into an ugly woman. Zhan Chun could not help but heave a deep sigh.

"Call those useless doctors to examine her again," He Taichong said. The old female servant who was attending to her needs complied and went out the room. Soon afterwards, they heard the clinking noise of iron chains as seven doctors walked in. The legs of these seven men were chained together. Their appearance looked haggard and their faces were pitiful.

These seven men were famous physicians from Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu regions. They were half-invited, half-kidnapped by He Taichong's disciples. But these seven famous doctors did not share the same opinion; some said she was bloated, some said she was possessed by evil spirit. They all wrote prescriptions, but after taking the prescribed medicine, the Fifth Aunt condition was no different that her condition on the first day.

In his rage, He Taichong had these seven famous physicians locked up, saying that if the Fifth Aunt was not cured, these seven useless doctors (by this time, the 'famous doctors' had turned into 'useless doctors') would accompany her to the grave. The seven doctors had used up their entire skill, but the Fifth Aunt's swelling was growing bigger and bigger. They knew their lives were at stake, but each time they did the examination together, these seven doctors were always arguing loudly with each other. Each one criticizing the other six, saying that the Fifth Aunt's worsened condition was because of the others' mistake, it had nothing to do with him.

This time was no different; as soon as they entered the room and examined her pulse, they started bickering with each other. He Taichong was anxious and enraged; he roared his curses that the seven famous or useless doctors' voices were drowned.

Zhan Chun's mind suddenly clicked. "Shifu," she said, "I brought a doctor from Henan. Although his age is young, his skill is somewhat superior to these doctors."

"Why didn't you say so?" He Taichong was delighted, "Quickly invite him, quickly invite him!"

Each time the famous doctor arrived, he always treated him with an utmost respect; but he would not be polite anymore as soon as the 'famous doctor' turned into a 'useless doctor'.

Zhan Chun quickly returned to the hall and took Zhang Wuji inside. As soon as Zhang Wuji saw He Taichong, he recognized him as one of the crowd who forced his parents to their death on Mount Wudang a few years ago; he could not refrain from feeling hatred and resentment. However, it had been four, five years since then, that Zhang Wuji's face and stature had undergone huge changes. He Taichong did not recognize Zhang Wuji. He only saw a fourteen, maybe fifteen years old teenager, who did not kneel down and kowtow to him.

He Taichong's eyes narrowed; his face turned cold, and he no longer took any notice of Zhang Wuji. "Where is that doctor you were talking about?" he asked Zhan Chun.

"This Xiao Xiongdi is the doctor," Zhan Chun said, "He has an exquisite medical knowledge, I am sure his skill surpasses many famous doctors."

How could He Taichong believe her? "Nonsense, nonsense!" he said.

Zhan Chun said, "Disciple was hit by the blue 'tuo luo' flower poison, he was the one who cure me."