THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Rescue Part 4

Yilin looked at Dingyi in surprise with her crystal clear eyes. "Big brother Linghu?" she uttered. "He...he...." Tears began to fall from her beautiful eyes. In a choking voice, she said, "He...he is already dead!"

Everyone in the room was stunned by the news.

Priest Tianmen's anger immediately vanished. "How did he die? Who killed him?" he asked in a loud voice.

"It was this...this Qingcheng...Qingcheng villain." Yilin pointed at the body of Luo Renjie.

Yu Canghai could not help feeling proud. "So the scoundrel Linghu Chong was killed by Renjie and they ended in mutual annihilation!" he thought. "Good. Renjie the boy, I knew he had guts! He didn't disgrace the fame of my Qingcheng Sword School."

"So all members of your Five Mountains Sword Alliance are the good guys, and all people of my Qingcheng Sword School are bad guys?" he glared at Yilin and sneered.

Tears kept falling from her eyes, Yilin said, "I...I don't know about that. I am not talking about you, Uncle-Master Yu. I am only talking about him." She pointed at Luo Renjie's body again.

"What are you scaring the child for?" Dingyi barked at Yu Canghai. "Yilin, don't be afraid. Tell us why he was a bad guy? Your Master is here, nobody will dare give you any trouble." She gave a glare back at Yu Canghai.

"Buddhists do not lie. Little Sister, are you willing to give a vow in the name of Buddha?" Yu Canghai demanded. He was afraid that Yilin would speak at Dingyi's instigation and would describe Luo Renjie's behavior as something intolerable. Since this apprentice of his had already perished along with Linghu Chong, there would be no testimony from another quarter; everybody would have the statements from a single party.

"I dare not ever lie to my Master," Yilin said. She knelt down facing the outside, put her palms together, lowered her head and intoned, "Apprentice Yilin is reporting to her Master and the other Uncle-Masters. She dares not speak untruth. The Buddha has great powers and will verify her words."

Everyone could sense the sincerity in her words, so all became well disposed toward her. A scholarly, black-bearded, middle-aged man had been listening by the side quietly from the beginning. He interrupted Yilin and said, "The little Sister had already vowed. Of course we will believe her words."

"Did you hear that, bull-nose? Even Mr. Wen agrees. She will speak the truth," Dingyi said. She knew the man's surname was Wen, and everybody called him Mr. Wen, but she had no idea what his first name was. She only knew that he was from southern Shanxi Province and was famous for his Kung Fu with a pair of Judge's-Pens. He was a master at pressure points.

Everyone's eyes turned to Yilin's face. Her glorious face brightened the entire room like a brilliant pearl or a piece of beautiful jade, in its purity and flawlessness. Even Yu Canghai thought to himself, "This little nun probably won't tell a lie." Silence befell the room while all waited for Yilin to start.

"Yesterday afternoon," Yilin started, "I was following Master and my apprentice sisters, heading to the town of Hengyang. In the middle of the trip, it started to rain. As we went down the valley, I slipped and caught my fall with my hand on the rocks, so they were covered with mud and moss. After we descended into the valley, I went to a stream to wash my hands. Suddenly, beside my shadow in the stream, appeared the shadow of a man. I was so startled that I stood up immediately. Then I felt a pain in my back – he had already sealed my pressure points. I was very scared and wanted to call my Master to come and help me, but it was already too late; because of the sealed pressure points, I could not let out a sound. The man picked me up and walked about ten or twenty yards, then put me inside a cave. I was scared to death, yet couldn't move an inch or make a sound. After quite a while, I heard the three senior apprentice sisters calling me in three different places, 'Yilin, Yilin, where are you?' That man just grinned and whispered to me, 'If they come here, I'll catch every one of them!' The three apprentice sisters looked for me everywhere and went in other directions.