THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Snatching The Leadership Part 3

Linghu Chong had been leaning on Yingying. When he suddenly saw his master's swordplay becoming both fast and weird, and very different from the sword art of Huashan School, he was surprised. Then he glanced around and saw that Zuo Lengchan's swordplay had also changed. Now, Zuo Lengchan was using sword moves which were unexpectedly very similar to the ones his master were using. The two of them were attacking and defending very quickly, and the swordplay coordination between the two of them was seamless, as if they were martial brothers who had been practising this set of sword arts together for dozens of years already. In the next twenty moves, Zuo Lengchan kept on advancing with each of his move while Yue Buqun continuously retreated.

Linghu Chong was very good at looking at flaws in other people's martial art. So he was getting really anxious when he saw the flaws in his master's swordplay getting bigger and bigger while the situation was getting more and more dangerous. Seeing that Zuo Lengchan's win was guaranteed, Songshan School's disciples cried out in joy. Zuo Lengchan's attacks were swift and continuous.

When he saw his opponent's swordplay was disorderly and that within ten moves he would be able to disarm him, he became happy and he hurriedly increase the strength of his attack. Sure enough, as his sword slash was blocked by Yue Buqun, he felt the strength in Yue Buqun's arm was quite weak. Zuo Lengchan twirled his sword quickly and Yue Buqun was unable to hold on to his sword as it was sent shooting up into the sky. Songshan School's disciples cheered thunderously.

Suddenly, Yue Buqun rushed forward with his bare hands. Both of his hands attacked ruthlessly with seizing, stabbing, and slapping strikes. His body was floating like a ghost, shifting here and there. He shifted to the west, while his hand unthinkably attacked quickly and strangely. Zuo Lengchan was astonished and called out, "This... This... This..." and exerted himself to block.

Yue Buqun's long sword had dropped straight onto the place of worship penetrating the ground, but no one paid any attention to it.

"Dongfang Bubai!" Yingying whispered.

Linghu Chong was also thinking of the same thing. The move his master used at that moment was the same martial art that Dongfang Bubai had used with the embroidering needle when fighting against the four of them. He was so astonished that he forgot about his injury and stood up. From besides him, a small hand extended itself to hold him underneath the armpit, but he was completely oblivious to it. A pair of startled tender eyes were looking at him but he didn't notice that either. At that time, from among the thousands of people on the Songshan Mountaintop, there was only this pair of eyes that wasn't looking at the fight between Zuo Lengchan and Yue Buqun. From the beginning of the fight, Yilin had never taken her eyes off Linghu Chong.

Zuo Lengchan cried out ferociously, and Yue Buqun flew out to stand on the southwest corner of the place of the worship. Yue Buqun was only about a foot away from the edge and his body was faltering looking like he was about to fall off the place of worship. The long sword in Zuo Lengchan's right hand was still dancing and it was getting faster and faster. The moves he used were Songshan sword arts. Every single move was protecting the fatal acupoints on his whole body. His sword art was wonderful and its power ferocious and each slash of the sword reverberated with the sound of wind generated by it. A lot of people were exclaiming loudly in praise. After a time, they realized that Zuo Lengchan was just brandishing his sword around his own body and never advanced to attack Yue Buqun. Something wasn't right.

His swordplay was only defending and there wasn't even half a move attacking Yue Buqun. With this kind of swordplay, it looked like he was just practising his swordplay. How could he cope with an attack from a strong opponent? Suddenly, Zuo Lengchan's sword pierced forward and stopped in mid air. He leaned his head slightly to one side, looking like he was trying to listen to some strange noise. The crowd saw a thin line of blood flowing from both of his eyes down to his cheeks and were dripping from his chin. From the crowd, someone exclaimed, "He's blind!"

This voice wasn't very loud, but Zuo Lengchan angrily shouted, "I'm not blind, I'm not blind! Which dog said I'm blind? Yue Buqun, Yue Buqun, you traitor! If you got guts, then come fight with your grandpa for three hundred more stances." His voice was getting louder and louder, and his voice was full of anger, pain, and hopelessness. He was just like a beast that had been mortally wounded roaring loudly in its death throes.

Yue Buqun was smiling as he stood at the corner of the place of worship.

When everyone had seen clearly that both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes had been blinded by Yue Buqun, they were all in utter disbelief. Only Linghu Chong and Yingying were not surprised by this. After Yue Buqun had lost his long sword, the technique he used afterwards was very similar to the one Dongfang Bubai used. That day on Dark Wood Cliff, Ren Woxing, Linghu Chong, Xiang Wentian, and Shangguan Yun cooperated together to fight Dongfang Bubai but they were still not his match. Only after Yingying turned around to attack Yang Lianting that they were luckily spared. Even then, at the end, Ren Woxing was still blinded in one eye. At that time, there was only a thin line difference between life and death for all of them. When Yue Buqun's body started to float rapidly, even though he wasn't as good as Dongfang Bubai, it became certain that Zuo Lengchan would still lose when fighting him one on one. As expected, not long after, both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes were blinded by a needle.

Linghu Chong wasn't happy at all to see his master won. Instead, he suddenly felt indescribable fear in his heart. Yue Buqun's temper had always been peaceful and calm, and he had also treated Linghu Chong amiably. Linghu Chong had always regarded his master with affection and awe. Later on, when his master expelled him from the school, he knew it was because of his own faults. He felt it was a deserved punishment in reality because he liked to handle things eccentrically, unreasonably and do as he pleased. He was only hoping that Master and Master-Wife would be able to forgive him, and he had no anger towards them at all. But when he saw Master standing at the edge of the place of worship with his sleeves floating in the wind and his manner elegant and scholarly, without knowing why, an intense feeling of hatred rose up in his heart. Perhaps it was because the martial art Yue Buqun used had made him thought of Dongfang Bubai's grotesqueness, or perhaps he felt Master had won in an extremely dishonourable and unscrupulous manner. He was at a loss for some time when his wound suddenly became painful and he sat down dejectedly.

Yingying and Yilin extended their hands at the same time to support him while asking, "What's wrong?"

Linghu Chong shook his head and forced a smile. "Noth... Nothing."

They again heard Zuo Lengchan cried out, "Yue Buqun, you traitor! If you got guts, come out and fight to the death. Running here and there, what a disgraceful bastard! You... come, come and fight!"

Tang Yinge from Songshan School said, "Go up there and help master come down."

"Yes!" Two disciples, Shi Dengda and Di Xiuying, answered. They flew up the place of worship and said, "Master, let's go down!"

"Yue Buqun, you're afraid to come?" Zuo Lengchan shouted.

Shi Dengda extended his hand to help. "Mas..."

Suddenly, a light reflected. Zuo Lengchan slashed his long sword from Shi Dengda's left shoulder to his right waist, and followed by slashing at Di Xiuying's chest. These two attacks were very formidable, and the end was unthinkable. In a flash, the two Songshan School disciples had been chopped into four pieces. The crowd below gasped in fright, stunned.

Yue Buqun slowly walked towards the middle of the place of worship and said, "Brother Zuo, you're already handicapped so I won't fight you anymore. Are you still thinking of fighting me for the headmaster position of the Five Mountains School?"

Zuo Lengchan slowly lifted his long sword and pointed the sword at Yue Buqun's chest. Yue Buqun had no weapon in his hand. His long sword which had fallen from mid-air was still penetrated on the floor of the place of worship and was now lightly swaying in the wind. Yue Buqun inserted both of his hands into his sleeves, while both of his eyes stared unblinkingly at the sword point just three feet away from his chest. The blood on the sword point was dripping onto the ground with a light 'tap, tap, tap' sound. The sleeve on Zuo Lengchan's right hand started to puff up like a sail gathering up wind. The sleeve on his left hand drooped down and looked ordinary which indicated that he had concentrated his whole energy into his right arm. The stirring of his internal energy made his sleeve billowed. This was not a small thing at all. It signalled that this attack would be as powerful as a thunderbolt when released.

Suddenly, a white blur was seen as Yue Buqun slid back more than ten feet and in a blink had come back to where he was standing. This retreat and return was done with such speed that it took only an instant. He just stood there for a moment before sliding to the left and back for more than ten feet, and just like before swiftly returned to his original place to face Zuo Lengchan's sword. Everyone had all seen it clearly. No matter how fierce or formidable Zuo Lengchan's attack would be, he still wouldn't be able to hit Yue Buqun.

Zuo Lengchan was confusedly thinking of many things. If his Qiankun Toss didn't pierce Yue Buqun's chest and Yue Buqun managed to avoid it, then with his two blind eyes, he would be prey to Yue Buqun without being able to fight back. He then thought of all the efforts he had put in into the planning of the merger of the five schools. He never expected that everything would have come to nothing. He had failed when success was just within his reach. Instead he had fallen into a plot. Suddenly, his heart turned sour and he felt warm blood rushing up. With a cry, fresh blood sprayed out from his mouth. Yue Buqun leaned slightly to one side and evaded the blood. His face was showing a smiling expression. Zuo Lengchan shook out his right hand, and the long sword broke in the middle. He immediately followed it by throwing it onto the ground. He looked up and laughed loudly, the sound of his laughter reverberating far throughout the valley. While still laughing, he turned his body around and strode purposefully off the place of worship. When he reached the edge of the place of worship, his left feet stepped in mid-air, but he was ready for this as his right leg kicked out and he flew down the place of worship.

A few disciples of Songshan School rushed forward and called out, "Master, we'll go together and chop up everyone from Huashan School."

Zuo Lengchan said in a clear voice, "Gentleman's words must be believed! It's already said it's a sword fight to take the leadership, and it will only depend on martial art to gain victory. Mr. Yue's martial art has gained him victory from me so everyone must now accept him as headmaster. How can you have thoughts of dissent?" When his eyes were first blinded, he was startled and angry, and couldn't help hurling abuses. But after he calmed down a bit, he regained the aura of a master and was very firm, resembling a grand hero. The entire crowd really admired him for this. Otherwise, with countless number of Songshan School's disciples here and their many helpers, along with the advantage they held here, if they actually fought with Huashan School's people, no matter how high Yue Buqun's martial art was, it would still be very hard to match the strength of Songshan School. Among the people who had come to Mount Songshan to mingle with the five mountains sword schools, many of them were there to curry favour with people higher than them. So when they heard what Zuo Lengchan said, they immediately cheered, "Let Mr. Yue be the Five Mountains School's headmaster. Let Mr. Yue be the Five Mountains School's headmaster!" The disciples of Huashan School exclaimed even louder. Actually, this outcome was really outside their expectations, and the disciples of Huashan School could hardly believe that this had happened.