THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

In Jail Part 3

Using his left hand, he immediately freed his right hand, and then examined the shackles on his ankles and found fractures in both. After expanding much effort, he was able to free himself completely from all the shackles. By this time, his whole body was perspiring profusely and he felt quite breathless.

Puzzled he asked himself "Why does each steel ring has a fracture? How could these shackles with fractures have fettered anyone?"

The next day, the deaf and mute old man delivers the daily meal. Using the light which came with the old man, Linghu Chong was able to see that in the place where the steel rings have fracture, they have been cut through with a very fine and extremely thin steel wire saw. There were no rust on the fractures indicating that the cuts were made recently. He asked himself "How come these shackles have been cut? Is someone trying to rescue me in secret? This underground prison is so well hidden. It's unlikely that my rescuer is someone from the outside. This person must surely be from this Lone Manor. He must not have been willing to plot against me and imprison me here. While I was unconscious, he must have come here secretly and used the steel wire saw to cut the shackles. It follows that my rescuer cannot openly declare himself an enemy of this manor, so he can only act when he has an opportunity. He will surely help me escape when the next opportunity arises." Thinking this, his spirit was greatly lifted.

That night, in his dream, Linghu Chong saw Mr Paint coming forward, opening the door of the prison cell and letting him out. Awaking with a start, Linghu Chong realised that it was only a Nanke dream [Nanke dream is a saying that comes from a well-known Tang (Dynasty) performance], an illusory joy that was not true. However, he did not become depressed. Instead, he thought: "He has not come to rescue me today, only because he has not had the opportunity to do so. He will naturally come and rescue me soon."

"The mnemonics and methods on the steel plate are extremely useful to me, but terribly dangerous to others. Anyone else who gets incarcerated in this dark prison in the future would naturally be a good man, so he cannot be allowed to fall into Ren Woxing's great trap." Thinking this, Linghu Chong traced the words on the steel plate with his fingers and read the entire passage ten times from beginning to end. Then, he took the iron handcuff and scraped off more than ten words in the passage.

Mr Black-White did not come that day, but Linghu Chong did not care about it. Instead, he continued to cultivate his internal energy according to the methods stated by the mnemonics. Mr Black-White did not appear for many more days. Soon, Linghu Chong began to feel a significant improvement in his practice of the methods, for six- to seven-tenths of the diverging energy streams that the Six Fairies of the Peach Valley and the No-Commandment Monk left in his body had been expelled from the 'dan tian' and dispersed along the channels of 'Ren' and 'Du'. He thought: "I only have to persevere, and all the diverging energy streams will be completely expelled."

Linghu Chong recited the full set of mnemonics more than ten times each day, before scraping off yet another ten words or so from the steel plate. As he did, he began to notice an increase in his strength. He no longer needed to exert himself much when he scraped the steel plate with the iron handcuff. More than a month passed in this manner. Although he was trapped in the ground, he could feel a gradual drop in the sweltering summer temperature. He thought: "There is indeed divine intervention during the time of darkness. If I had been incarcerated during winter, I would not have found the words in the steel plate at all. Perhaps Mr Paint would have had me rescued before summer comes again."

Suddenly, Linghu Chong heard the sound of footsteps outside and recognized them as Mr. Black-White's. He quickly turned his face towards the wall from his resting position on the bed. Mr. Black-White stopped outside the prison door and apologetically spoke, "Senior Ren, I am truly very sorry... not to have come earlier. Daily... I was anxious to come and pay you my respect but did not get a chance because my eldest brother did not leave his room. I hope you are not offended... because of the long wait." Saying this, Mr. Black-White opened square-shaped opening of the prison door and the fragrant smell of wine and roasted chicken wafted through into the cell. It had been many days since Linghu Chong had tasted a drop of wine. As soon as the smell of the wine hits his nose, he quickly turned around and said "Quickly give me the food and wine."

"Yes, yes. Has Senior decided to teach me your marvelous secret technique?" replied Mr. Black-White.

Linghu Chong answered, "Each time you deliver three catties of liquor and a chicken, I will teach you four mnemonics. This way, you would have learned the entire method by the time you have delivered to me 1000 chickens with accompanying liquor."

"Senior Master, I'm afraid too much time will be wasted with this arrangement. Can you not teach me eight mnemonics at a time in exchange for 2 chickens and 6 catties of liquor?" Mr. Black-White bargained.

Linghu Chong smiled at this and said "You are certainly greedy but I won't disagree with your proposal. Come, come, give me the food."

Through the square opening, Mr. Black-White handed over a wooden plate with a plate of fruit, a pot of wine and a fat chicken.

Linghu Chong thought "Since I have not taught you the mnemonics, you wouldn't have put poison in the food to kill me right now." Not able to resist any longer, he picked up the wine pot and took big gulps of it.

The wine was not really good but Linghu Chong savored the taste of it as if he were drinking Mr. Paint's beautifully mellow Turfan grape wine which has been distilled and fermented for four cycles. After drinking half the pot, he tore into a huge chunk of chicken leg, chewed it with relish. Taking turns eating and drinking, he emptied the wine pot and picked the chicken clean. He patted his belly and with great approval declared "Good liquor, good liquor!"

Mr. Black-White says with a smile, "Now that Senior has eaten the fat chicken and drank the good wine, will you please teach me the mnemonics."

Linghu Chong noticed that Mr. Black-White did not acknowledge him as a teacher again but only talked about giving him the food and wine. Momentarily he was at a loss thinking of a suitable answer and did not reply immediately. Finally he said "Good, remember these four mnemonics well. 'Gather the energy in your dan-tian and direct it towards Yu and Shanzhong points through the eight channels'. Do you understand?"

The original mnemonics written on the steel panel was "Gather the energy in the dan-tian and then disperse it to the four limbs through the eight channels." Linghu Chong had deliberately changed the meaning of the method.

In Mr. Black-White's mind, these four mnemonics does not seem wonderful or extraordinary. He felt the method is not different from an ordinary breathing exercise method. So, he asked "Senior, could you tell me the four mnemonics again because I don't quite understand it yet."

Linghu Chong thought to himself, "When I changed these four mnemonics, they became quite ordinary. I do not have sufficient knowledge to fool him. I will read something extremely strange to frighten him," so he said "Today is the first day of the month, I will teach you four more mnemonics. You should try to memorize it well. "Maintain positive energy by splitting it along Zhen channel and dissipate the negative energy through a strategic pass."

Mr. Black-White said in alarm, "This... This... This sentence is very strange. How do a person achieve success by passing energy through eight channels? I, your junior, does not understand these... these mnemonics completely. "

Linghu Chong said, "How can such a rare and wonderful inner energy cultivation method be easily understood by everyone? It's simply not possible for an average man to understand the complex and subtle meanings of this method so easily."

At this point, Mr. Black-White, who has been intently listening, became more and more aware of differences in the tone and manner of speaking between Linghu Chong and Senior Ren and cannot help but suspect that the speaker is not Senior Ren. Linghu Chong had spoken to him twice before but he had muffled his voice and said very little. This time, somewhat intoxicated with wine, Linghu Chong had spoken much. Mr. Black-White has been on high alert for any suspicious signs because he expected Linghu Chong will make up the mnemonics. So, to be sure that he was not being cheated, he asked, "Senior, did you say ' The energy is cultivated when the divided energy from eight channels are completely dispersed?'"

Linghu Chong answered, "Naturally." Sensing that Mr. Black-White is getting suspicious, Linghu Chong dared not say more than "You would have to study what I have taught you comprehensively to completely understand it." So saying, he put the wine pot on the wooden tray and pushed it through the square hole. Mr. Black-White held out his hand to receive the tray. Linghu Chong suddenly cried out "Oh!" and at the same time, leaned his body forward and hit the iron door with his forehead.

Startled, Mr. Black-White uttered, "How? This person possesses excellent wu gong skills with extremely fast response," and put his hand through the square hole searchingly where he came into contact with the wooden tray. Nervously he grabbed the tray lest the wine pot fell to the ground and break. Just at that moment, as quick as lightening, Linghu Chong grabbed Mr. Black-White's right hand with his left hand and said with a laugh, "Mr. Black-White, do you know who I am?"

Mr. Black-White was greatly surprised that he uttered in a trembling voice: "You... ... You... ... "

When Linghu Chong handed the wooden tray out, he did not have the intention of grabbing Mr. Black-White's hand. However, when he saw Mr. Black-White's palm shaking under the faint light of the oil lamp while he was waiting for hand over the wooden tray, he felt a sudden impulse that he found impossible to supress. He had been imprisoned here for many days because of this person's sly and calculated tricks; so if he were able to break Mr. Black-White's wrist, he would be able to vent a little of his anger and hatred. Also, Mr. Black-White's likely to be frightened stiff if his hand was suddenly seized. Since this person is so deceitful, what was wrong with scaring him? He was unsure if it was for revenge or due to his mischevious nature when he pretended to fall and led Mr. Black-White to stretch out his hand to be grabbed.

It goes without saying that Mr. Black-White had been extremely vigilant, but what happened to him occurred very suddenly and extremely fast. Even if he had foreknowledge, he would not have not been able to evade from getting his wrist captured. Mr. Black-White hurriedly twist his hand around to loosen his opponent's vise-like grip on his wrist. As he twisted around, by chance, his "inside pass" and "outside pass" acupunture points fell directly under the fingers of his opponent. Unbelievably, he felt his inner energy coming out of the two points. Just at that time, with a loud sound, three of the toes of his foot broke, and in extreme pain, he shouted out.

How is it that Mr. Black-White strangely injured his left foot when it was his right hand that was being held? At first, Mr. Black-White had been showing respect towards his opponent out of fear. Now that he found himself captive, he became worried for his life, and in a hurry used the move called "Scaly dragon leaving the deep pool". Used when an arm is seized, the move involves kicking out undetected with the left foot towards the enemy's chest. The kick is extremely fierce and lethal; the enemy would usually die spitting blood if they did not succeed in avoiding it. It is impossible for someone to avoid the kick without releasing his opponent's arm quickly.

In this moment of extreme distress, Mr. Black-White was so eager to escape that he forgot he was separated from his enemy by a thick iron door and used this "Scaly dragon leaving the deep pool" method. His kick was swift, fierce and right on target. Only, it's a pity that his foot hit the center of the iron door with a loud "bang". Hearing the loud noise coming from the iron door, Linghu Chong instantly realized how the iron door had protected him from Mr. Black-White's extremely formidable kick. He couldn't help but laugh out loud and said "Do kick again! If you kick as fiercely as the first time, then I might just let you go."

During that time, Mr. Black-White became frighteningly aware that his inner energy had been flowing out in a steady stream from his right wrist's "inner pass" and "outer pass" points. This was something he was most afraid of and he was scared out of his wits. He tried to control his panic so as to slow down the energy loss. At the same time, he couldn't help but sorrowfully plead, "Old... old gentleman, I beg... you... you..."

As soon as he speaks, his inner energy gushes out of his body in a huge wave that he had to stop talking but his energy kept flowing out rapidly.

Linghu Chong had practiced the method on the steel panel for quite some time and at this moment, his dan-tian could be likened to an empty bamboo or a deep valley into which Mr. Black-White's inner energy flowed in.

However, Linghu Chong was not aware of this. He only sensed that Mr. Black-White's wrist was quivering as if in fear. His anger towards Mr. Black-White hasn't abated yet and thinking to frighten Mr. Black-White further, he shouted out, "I taught you martial arts and therefore you are my disciple. Yet you took unfair advantage of your illustrious teacher. Shouldn't I punish you for your crime?"