THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Embroidering Part 1

[Dongfang Unbeatable threw himself by the side of Yang Lianting. He picked him up and put him on the bed gently. Taking off his shoes and socks, then pulling the blanket over him, he behaved like a wife taking care of her husband.]

Yang Lianting coldly said, "Tong Baixiong, how can you shout like that at the Hall of Refined Kindness? Why aren't you kneeling down when your Chief is right in front of you? How do you dare not to sing praises to Chief?"

Tong Baixiong looked up to the sky and laughed loudly. "When Brother Dongfang and I became friends, where were you, little kid? At the time when Brother Dongfang and I escaped death and went through all those hardships, you weren't even born yet! You dare to talk to me?"

Linghu Chong turned his head and finally was able to see the face of Tong Baixiong clearly. He has white hair which was wildly out of place and a bushy silver beard. His face was twitching with anger, his eyes were wide opened, and the blood on his face was already darkened and hard. All these created a very scary facial expression. Both of his arms and legs were shackled with long chains that dragged behind him and rattled loudly as he spoke. He was speaking passionately, waving his arms around and the iron chain accompanied his angry speech with a loud 'zheng, zheng' noise.

Ren Woxing was still kneeling down and staying still, but hearing the noise the chain made, he remembered the time when he was locked up at the bottom of the West Lake. He couldn't control his anger anymore and his body was now shaking with anger, and he really wanted to start destroying things. But he then heard Yang Lianting said, "You're very arrogant to be so rude in front of our Chief. You secretly colluded with that traitor Ren Woxing. Do you know your sin now?"

"Chief Ren is the former chief of our sect," Tong Baixiong said. "When he had an incurable illness, he retreated into seclusion and gave the leadership of the sect to Brother Dongfang. How can you say that he's a traitor to our sect? Brother Dongfang, tell us clearly: how did Chief Ren rebel, how did he betray our sect?"

"After Ren Woxing cured his illness, he should've immediately returned to our sect. But he instead went to Shaolin Temple, and bonded together with the headmasters of Shaolin, Wu Dang, Songshan and many other schools. Wouldn't you say that's betraying our sect? Why didn't he come to pay his respect to Chief and listen respectfully to Chief's order?" Yang Lianting replied instead.

Tong Baixiong laughed. "Chief Ren used to be the superior of Brother Dongfang, and his experience in martial art is vast, so he's not necessarily under Brother Dongfang. Brother Dongfang, isn't this right?"

Yang Lianting shouted loudly, "Don't rely on your seniority here. Our Chief is very generous to his subordinate, and he would never stoop down to your level. If you deeply regretted your fault, then tomorrow in front of the assembly altar, you can tell all our brothers about your fault, your assurance to rectify your misdeed, and swear
your loyalty to Chief. Then maybe Chief would spare your life this time. Otherwise, you know what is going to happen to you."

Tong Baixiong laughed. "I'm close to eighty years old already. I'm already tired of living, what consequence am I afraid of?"

Yang Lianting shouted, "Bring in those people!"

The servants in purple clothes answered, "Yes!" and then they heard the sound of chains clunking as more than ten people were brought into the hall. There were men, women, and a few children in the group. When Tong Baixiong saw this, his face changed colour and he used his qi to shout, "Yang Lianting, a gentleman is responsible for what he has done. Why are you bringing my grandson here?" His shout shook the eardrums of everyone in the hall.

Linghu Chong, looking in the direction towards the dais where Dongfang Bubai was sitting, saw that Dongfang Bubai shook when he heard this shout. So he thought to himself, "This person still has some conscience left. His heart was still moved when seeing how worried Tong Baixiong is."

Yang Lianting laughed and said, "What's the third teaching of our Chief? Say it out loud for us to hear!"

Tong Baixiong just uttered a few 'Pei' vehemently and didn't reply back. Yang Lianting said, "Among the Tong family, anyone who knows of Chief's third teaching, say it out loud."

One boy who is around ten years old said, "Refined scholar, kind-hearted warrior, the just and wise Chief's third teaching: 'You must be fierce towards your enemy and behead the source of trouble. Men, women, old, and young, leave no one behind.'"

Yang Lianting praised, "Very good, very good! Little baby, you remember all ten of Chief's teaching?"

The boy answered, "I remember them all. If I don't study the teachings for one day, I wouldn't be able to eat or sleep. Once I've read Chief's teachings, my martial art greatly advances and I have a lot of strength to fight."

Yang Lianting laughed. "That is right. And who taught you these words?"

"My father taught me."

Yang Lianting pointed at Tong Baixiong and asked, "Who is he?"

"He is my grandfather."

"Your grandfather doesn't read the teaching of our Chief, doesn't listen to Chief's words, and has betrayed our Chief. What do you think we should do?"

"Grandfather's wrong. Everyone must study Chief's teaching and listen to what Chief says."

Yang Lianting said to Tong Baixiong, "Your grandson is only a ten years old baby, yet he knows what to do. While you're already so old, how come you're so foolish?"

Tong Baixiong said, "I only exchanged a few words with those two people, Ren and Xiang. They wanted me to betray Chief, but I didn't agree to their proposal. When Tong Baixiong says one then it'll be one, two then it'll be two. I would never wrong other people." He saw that all of his family was being held hostage so his speech was
getting softer as he spoke.

Yang Lianting sighed and in a regretful tone said, "If you had said this earlier, then this wouldn't have become so troublesome. So do you know your fault now?"

"I wasn't wrong. I've never abandoned our sect and I have never betrayed our Chief."

Yang Lianting sighed. "Since you don't want to admit your fault, then I can't help you anymore. Bring his family down and don't give them a grain of rice or even a mouthful of water from today."

A few servants in purple gowns responded, "Yes!" as they took the family away. Tong Baixiong shouted, "Wait!" Then he said to Yang Lianting, "Alright, I admit my fault. It was I who was wrong. Chief, I beg for your forgiveness."

Even though he had admitted his fault, his eyes were still burning as if they were about to spout fire. Yang Lianting smiled coldly, "What did you say a moment ago? You said that when Chief and you experienced hardships, I wasn't even born, isn't this right?"

Tong Baixiong held back his anger and said, "I was wrong."

"You were wrong? That came out from you too easily. How come you aren't kneeling down in front of Chief?"

"Chief and I have become sworn brothers sometime in the past. For tens of years, we have been standing and sitting down as equal." He suddenly raised his voice, "Brother Dongfang, you see that your older brother is being tortured, how come you're not saying anything? If you want your brother to kneel down to you, that's very easy to do. You only have to say a word, and your brother will die for you without blinking an eye." Dongfang Bubai just sat still. All of sudden, the big hall was quiet. Everyone was staring at Dongfang Bubai, waiting for him to speak. But even after some time had passed, he still didn't say a word. "Brother Dongfang, for the past few years, it's been very difficult for me to see you. You locked yourself up and practiced the Sunflower Manual assiduously. Did you know that there were so many changes in our sect and that danger is just around the corner?" Dongfang Bubai just sat silently without uttering a single sound. "If Brother wants to kill me or torture me, I couldn't care less. But if you ruin the hundreds of years' power and prestige of our sect, then you will become a great sinner. Why aren't you talking? You fire deviated while practicing martial art so that you can't talk, is this right?"

Yang Lianting shouted, "Nonsense! Kneel down!" Two servants in purple also shouted as they flew towards Tong Baixiong and kicked towards the back of his knees to force him to kneel. But their legs were broken instead with loud cracking sounds. They fell down on the ground and fresh blood spouted out from their mouths. Tong Baixiong said, "Brother Dongfang, I want to hear you say something so that dying would be sweet. You haven't spoken for 3 years, and all the brothers in the sect are getting suspicious."

Yang Lianting indignantly interjected, "What suspicion?"

"The suspicion that Chief has fallen into someone's plot and been given a muting drug. How come he doesn't speak? How come he doesn't speak?" Tong Baixiong spoke loudly.

Yang Lianting laughed coldly. "Chief's every word is precious. Why would he waste his breath and speak to a traitor like you? Guards, take him down the cliff!"

Eight servants in purple answered his call and came out. Tong Baixiong loudly said, "Brother Dongfang, I want to take a look at you. Have you been hurt so badly that you can't speak?" He waved his arms about and the iron chains on them scattered around. With his two legs dragging the iron chains, he charged towards Dongfang Bubai. When the eight servants saw how powerful he was, they were afraid to get near him.

Yang Lianting shouted, "Capture him, capture him!"

The warriors outside the hall shouted their battle cries but stayed just outside the door because they didn't dare to enter the hall. There was a strict rule in the sect which stated that for anyone to step a foot inside the Hall of Refined Kindness while carrying a weapon was an unpardonable offence that deserved execution. Dongfang Bubai stood up and turned around to go out through the back of the hall.

Tong Baixiong called out, "Brother Dongfang, don't go!" as he quickened his steps. However, with the iron chains on his legs preventing him from walking fast and his heart anxious with worry, he stumbled and fell forward. But he took advantage of the situation by somersaulting forward and then charged towards Dongfang Bubai. He was around a hundred feet away from Dongfang Bubai when Yang Lianting shouted, "Daring traitor is going to stab our Chief! Warriors, quickly come up the hall and capture this traitor!"

Ren Woxing noticed that even though Dongfang Bubai was dawdling in his escape, Tong Baixiong was still quite far away from him. He also wouldn't be able to catch up to him so he pulled out three copper coins, moved his qi to his arm, and threw them at Dongfang Bubai. Yingying shouted, "Let's Move!"

Linghu Chong leapt up and pulled his long sword out from inside the bandage. Xiang Wentian pulled out the weapons from inside the wooden poles of the stretcher and gave them to Ren Woxing and Yingying. He then gave a mighty pull on the rope underneath the stretcher which turned out to be a soft whip.

The four of them immediately used their qinggong and charged up the hall. All of sudden, Dongfang Bubai screamed as blood poured out of the top of his head where he was hit by a copper coin. When Ren Woxing threw those three coins, his distance from Dongfang Bubai was quite far away, so the power of the coin was already exhausted when it hit Dongfang Bubai's head and thus only caused a light external injury. But Dongfang Bubai was praised to be the number one martial artist in the whole world, and unexpectedly he wasn't even able to avoid this little coin. This didn't make sense to anyone there.