Legend has it that there is a martial arts manuscript Bixie Sword Manual in the house of Lin family, which when learned will give the person god-like speed and power. Thus, whoever manages to master it, will become the conqueror of the martial world...
[After several drinks of wine, the down and out Great Mr. Mo suddenly changed into someone cheerful and confident, and kept calling for more wine. But his tolerance was far less than Linghu Chong. After several bowl more, his face had become scarlet.]
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The group hurried along on their horses. Every daythey only slept for around four hours and they didn't tarry along the road. Ina few days, they finally arrived at Zhejiang's Dragon Spring. Although LinghuChong lost a lot of blood after being injured by Bu Chen and Sha Tianjiang, hisinjuries were mostly flesh wounds. With his abundant internal energy and theHeng-Shan School's medicines that he had taken, he had mostly recovered by thetime they arrived inside Zhejiang's border.
The disciples were so anxious that they started to inquire about the locationof the Sword-forging Valley as soon as they entered Zhejiang's border. However,none of the villagers they asked knew the location of the valley. When theyfinally arrived in Dragon Spring, they saw numerous sabre and sword forges. Butsurprisingly, none of the blacksmiths knew the location of the Sword-forgingValley.
Everyone was now feeling very worried. They asked two old nuns they met on theroad but they didn't hear about any fighting. All the blacksmiths they askedalso didn't hear about any fighting. As for nuns, the blacksmiths said thatthey frequently saw nuns around and that there was a Water Moon Temple near theeast wall of the city. The disciples asked for the location of the Water Moon Templebefore rushing there on horseback.
But when they arrived there, they saw the temple's main door was tightly shut.Zheng E went up to knock on the door but no one answered even after a longtime. Yihe saw Zheng E knocked on the door again but they still didn't hear anysounds coming from the inside. She couldn't bear to wait anymore so she pulledher sword out and jumped over the wall to go inside. Yiqing also followed herin jumping over the wall.
"Look at it. What's this?" Yihe said as she pointed to the ground.They saw on the courtyard around seven to eight bright pieces of sword points.It looked like that they had been cut off. "Anyone inside thetemple?" Yihe shouted while going inside the hall. At the same time,Yiqing opened the main door to let Linghu Chong and the other disciples comein. Yiqing then picked up a piece of broken sword point and gave it to LinghuChong. "Martial brother Linghu, there was some fighting here."
Linghu Chong examined the broken piece and saw that the break was very smooth.He asked, "Do Martial uncle Dingxian and Dingyi use some kind of treasuredswords?"
"They don't use any treasured swords. My Master once said that we mustpractice our sword art till we're very good at it then we would be able to wineven if we're using a wooden sword or a bamboo sword. She also said thattreasured sabres and treasured swords are too overbearing. If our hands were toslip slightly then we might take someone's life or disable a person'slimbs..." answered Yiqing.
Linghu Chong hummed and said, "Then these swords were not broken bymartial uncles?"
Yiqing nodded her head.
They then heard Yihe shouted from behind the main hall, "There are alsobroken swords here."
Everyone then went towards the back courtyard through the main hall. When theygot inside the hall, they saw that the tables and everything in the hall werethick with dust. In all the temples in the world, there were always people tosweep the hall and keep it clean. So judging from the amount of dust collectedin the hall, it seemed the temple had been uninhabited for several daysalready.
In the back courtyard, Linghu Chong and the rest of the disciples saw severaltrees hacked by weapons. They examined the places where the trees had beenhacked and realised that they were at least a few days old. There was a holewhere the back door was and the door planks were tens of feet away. It lookedas if the door had been kicked open. Outside the door was a small path leadingto the mountains. They followed the path and after more than a hundred feet,the road branched into two. Yiqing called out, "Everyone, separate andlook around. See if there's anything unusual."
Not long after, Qin Juan shouted from the right branch, "There's aprojectile here." And another one also called out, "Iron awl! There'san iron awl here!"
They saw this branch of the road passed through a mountain range that went upand down. Everyone quickly rushed towards that small road. Along the road, theyoften saw projectiles and broken pieces of sabres and swords lying around.Suddenly, Yiqing uttered an "ah" and picked up a long sword from thebushes. She said to Linghu Chong, "It's our school's sword." LinghuChong reasoned out loud, "Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai must have foughthere. They must have come towards this direction."
Everyone knew that the Abbess and Dingyi Shi Tai had fled towards thisdirection because they could not handle the enemies. What Linghu Chong said wasonly to make things sounded better. They saw a lot of weapons scattered abouton the road and guessed that the fighting must have been fierce here. They hadreceived the urgent call for help many days ago; they did not know whetherthere was still time to rescue them. Everyone was worried as they hurriedlywent forward.
As they climbed further up, the road became more rugged as it circled aroundthe mountain. Amongst the Heng-Shan School's disciples here, Yilin and Qin Juanhad the lowest martial art and they fell behind as they kept going. Afterseveral li, the road became rocky and there was no more road to follow and alsono more weapons to give them some direction. So they stopped paying attentionto the road. Suddenly, they saw thick smoke rising from the back of themountain on their left.
Linghu Chong said, "Let's go there to have a look." and they rushedtowards the smoke. They saw the thick smoke getting higher and higher as theyget nearer. Finally they rounded a hillside and saw a big valley. In the middleof the valley, there was a big fire roaring up into the sky. The burning woodsand leaves crackled loudly. Linghu Chong hid himself behind a rock and thenturned around and waved his hand telling the others not to make any sound. Justthen, they heard an old person shouted, "Dingxian, Dingyi. Today, I'llsend you both into the Buddhist's paradise to confirm your spritual progress inBuddhism. You don't even need to thank us."
Linghu Chong felt happy hearing this, "The two Shi Tai are still alive.Lucky we didn't arrive too late."
Another male joined in, "Chief Dongfang sincerely advised you to surrenderbut you persistently don't want to listen. From today, there wouldn't be aHeng-Shan School anymore."
The previous person shouted, "You mustn't blame our Divine Sun Moon Sectfor being cruel and merciless. You should blame yourself for being obstinateand getting those young disciples killed in vain. What a pity. Haha,haha!"
They now saw the fire in the middle of the valley was getting larger as itburned. They knew that Dingxian and Dingyi Shi Tai were surrounded by the fire.Linghu Chong grasped his sword and drew a breath before shouting loudly,"Fearless Devil Sect thief, you dare to give trouble to Heng-Shan School'sShi Tai. Five Mountains Sword Schools' masters have come from everywhere tohelp. Thieves, you're still not surrendering?" His shout was heardeverywhere in the valley.
At the valley, the firewood, stacked twenty to thirty feet hight, was blockingthe road. Linghu Chong didn't think deeply before he jumped inside the fire.Fortunately, the firewood in the middle wasn't burning that much. He wentforward a few steps and saw two stone ovens but there was no one around. Heshouted, "Dingxian Shi Tai, Dingyi Shi Tai, Heng-Shan School's force hasarrived to help!" At this time, Yihe, Yiqing, Yu Sao and the rest of thedisciples were outside the fire shouting, "Master, martial uncle, discipleshave arrived!" This was followed by the enemies shouting, "Kill them all!""They're Heng-Shan School's nuns!" "They're bluffing, there's no Five MountainsSword Schools' masters." This was followed by the clashing of swords betweenthe enemy and the Heng-Shan School's disciples.
Linghu Chong saw a tall shadow of a person coming out of the stone oven. Herwhole body was covered with blood. It was Dingyi Shi Tai. Her hand was holdinga sword and she stopped at the entrance of the stone oven. Even though her gownwas ragged and her face was caked with dirt and blood, she still stood therelooking proud and powerful. She had not lost the aura of a master at all. Whenshe saw Linghu Chong, she was greatly startled. "You... you are..."
Linghu Chong bowed, "Disciple Linghu Chong."
Dingyi Shi Tai said, "I know you are Linghu Chong..." She had seen his facebefore through the window from the outside of the Jade House brothel.
"Disciple will open the way. We'll fight our way out," said Linghu Chong as hestooped down to pick up a branch for swatting away the burning woods. DingyiShi Tai said, "You already joined the Devil Sect..." She said till here whenthey heard someone shouted, "Who has come here to disturb us?" The sabre waslightning fast as it chopped down.
Linghu Chong saw that the fire was getting more intense and the situation wasdesperate. But Dingyi Shi Tai was being suspicious towards him and unexpectedlydidn't want to rush out with him. In this situation, he had to move fast andkill as many enemies as possible. Only then would he be able to save them outof danger.
He took a step back to avoid the sabre chopping down and that person followedhis first move with a second slash. Linghu Chong countered this move by cuttingoff his arm holding the sabre. Then he heard a female disciple shouting sharplyin misery from the outside. It was a Heng-Shan School's disciple who had metwith a disaster. Linghu Chong was startled and hurriedly jumped out of thefire.
He saw a group of people on the east hillside and another group on the westhillside. The enemy had more than a hundred people with them. Some of theHeng-Shan School's disciples were already in groups of seven using the swordformation to fight the enemies. But there were still some disciples who werefighting alone as they didn't have time to form the formation. Even thoughthose who were fighting in formation didn't have the upper hand, they werestill able to hold their own. But the situation was extremely dangerous forthose who were fighting alone. Two female disciples had already been killed.
Linghu Chong swept his eyes across the battlefield to assess the situation. Hethen saw Yilin and Qin Juan fighting back to back against three men. Hegathered his qi and rushed towards them when he suddenly saw a bright lightmoving towards him. A long sword was being thrust towards him but Linghu Chongpromptly killed him by piercing his throat.
He leaped a few times and arrived in front of Yilin. He pierced the back of oneman killing him. He killed the second man by piercing the side of his body. Thethird person lifted his steel whip to smash it down towards Qin Juan's head butLinghu Chong reversed his sword and slashed upwards cutting off that person'sarm at the shoulder. Yilin was looking pale but now there was a slight smile onher face, "Amituofo, big brother Linghu."
Linghu Chong now saw that Yu Sao was being attacked by two good fighters. Herushed towards her and slashed twice. The first slash hit the person on hislower abdomen killing him. The second slash cut off the second person's rightwrist.
He turned around and rushed towards Yihe and Yiqing who were fighting againstthree men. Linghu Chong wielded his swords and the three men cried outmiserably before they dropped dead to the ground.
Suddenly he heard an elder shouted, "Join forces and kill this servant first!"
Three grey shadows responded to this call and three swords were thrust towardshis throat, chest and lower abdomen. These three sword moves were reallywonderful and their positioning was masterful. These were first-class swordart. Linghu Chong was startled, "This is Songshan School's sword art! Could itbe that they are from Songshan School?" As Linghu Chong thought of this, thethree swords were closing in on his three fatal points. Linghu Chong used thesword-breaking stance from the Dugu Nine Swords as he circled his sword towardsthe three attacking swords to neutralise them. His sword intention had notfinished yet as he forced the enemies to retreat a couple of steps. He saw thatthe enemy on his left was a fat looking Han Chinese around forty years old witha short beard on his face. The one in the middle was a thin old man with darkskin and bright-looking eyes. He didn't have the time to look at the thirdperson clearly before he slanted his body and escaped.
With two thrusts, he killed the two people attacking Zheng E. The previousthree people roared out and chased him. Linghu Chong had already made adecision, "These three people's martial arts are high and I probably won'tbe able to finish the fight quickly. If I fight too long with them, a lot ofdisciples from Heng-Shan School would be injured." He gathered his qi andstarted running non-stop to the east and west thrusting here and there. Hissword was everywhere. With each thrust, an enemy either fell down to the groundor was killed.
Those three masters were still chasing him but the distance between them stayedaround ten feet as they weren't able to close in on him. In the time to drink apot of tea, thirty people had been injured by Linghu Chong's sword. They werebeing routed as not a single person was able to stop a single move from him. Asthirty of the enemies were injured in such a short time, the situation was nowreversed. For every enemy that Linghu Chong killed, he slowly managed to freesome Heng-Shan School's disciples from the fighting, enabling them to go helpthe other disciples. In the beginning, the Heng-Shan School was outnumberedgreatly by the enemy but now they were gradually turning the situation aroundand were getting the upper hand. Linghu Chong knew that this fighting today wasvery dangerous for everyone. He decided that he couldn't spare anyone. If hedidn't manage to push the enemy back in a short time then the fire would geteven bigger and Dingxian Shi Tai and everyone else inside the stone oven wouldbe unable to escape.
It was as if he was flying, he was sometimes rushing forward and sometimesrushing at an angle. All the enemies within ten feet of him had no way ofescaping. Not long after, another twenty enemies had dropped to the ground.Dingyi was surveying the battle scene standing on top of the stone oven. Shesaw Linghu Chong appearing and disappearing like a demon killing those enemies.His sword art was wonderfully skillful and she had never seen it before. Shefelt really happy and astonished at the same time. There were around forty tofifty enemies left and they had seen Linghu Chong rampaging like a demon withno one able to resist him. Suddenly, someone sent out a cry and around twentypeople escaped into the surrounding grove. After Linghu Chong had killedseveral more people, the remaining enemies lost their will to fight. Beforelong, all the enemies who were able had escaped.
