THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Sword Training Part 3

In the mean time, he was actually thinking to himself, "All I need is to hold out through this current one. If I get to study several more hours, I would never be afraid of him again."

"Brother Linghu," Tian Boguang said as he raised his knife, "I really don't intend to hurt you, but you are simply too stubborn and won't go down Mount Huashan with me. If we continue fighting like this, I'll be forced to add ten or twenty more cuts on you and have you beaten black and blue. Wouldn't that be too bad for you?"

Linghu Chong suddenly got an idea. "You don't even need to add ten or twenty more cuts on me. All you need to do is to cut my right arm off or injure my right hand, so I can't use a sword. Then wouldn't I be at your disposal as you wish? Either to kill me or take me prisoner?"

"I only want you to admit your loss. Why do I want to injure your right arm or right hand?" Tian Boguang shook his head.

Linghu Chong was overjoyed, yet he put on a very depressed face. "I am afraid that you are just saying it right now. Once you get mad because of your losses, you would spare no effort in using all kinds of cruel and vicious tactics," he complained.

"You don't have to goad me. First, I have no grudges against you; secondly, I respect you as a true man with integrity; thirdly, if I injure you too badly, I am afraid someone might come and give me trouble. Go ahead!" Tian Boguang said.

"Alright! Brother Tian, please go ahead." Linghu Chong replied.

Tian Boguang gave a fake slash and immediately followed it with a tilted chop. His blade flashed in the sunshine with blinding reflections and the chop looked very vicious. Linghu Chong was about to overcome it with one of the variations in the third sword stance out of the Dugu Nine Swords, but Tian Boguang's knife moves came too fast, by the time he was going to attack, the knife move had already changed. He was just one step too slow.

"How terrible! How terrible! I can't even be fast enough to use the newly learned sword techniques. Grand Uncle-Master must be calling me an idiot right now," Linghu Chong groaned inwardly in great worries.

After a few more moves, cold sweats started rolling down Linghu Chong's forehead. But in Tian Boguang's eyes, his sword techniques looked extremely fierce, and every move seemed as if it was the exact restraint to Tian's knife moves. Tian Boguang couldn't help but feel worried.

"He could have killed me with the last several sword techniques. Why did he slow it down just a little bit intentionally?" he thought aloud. "Oh, I got it. He is being lenient and wants to beat me into a retreat in the face of difficulties. But even though I see the difficulties, I can't simply retreat. I have to hold out with all my might."

Because of these thoughts, with every chop, he dared not to use all his strength and made sure he would always have extra energy left in case of an emergency. The two dreaded each other and both fought in a very cautious manner.

After a while, Tian Boguang gradually increased his knife chopping speed, and Linghu Chong also became more familiar with the variations of the Dugu Nine Swords third sword stance. While lights of the knife and the sword flashed, the two fought faster and faster.

Suddenly Tian Boguang let out a loud roar as he threw a kick with his right foot, which struck Linghu Chong in the stomach. Linghu Chong fell down facing up.

In the split of a second, Linghu Chong thought, "All I need is another day and night. This time tomorrow I am sure I can beat him." He let go of his sword, shut his eyes tight, held his breath, and pretended to be knocked out cold.