THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Grief Part 1

[Several small shoot had already grown out from Yue Lingshan's grave. Linghu Chong thought, "There are shoots already at little apprentice sister's grave now. How is she inside the grave?" Suddenly, sound of bamboo flute came from behind his back.]

Yingying was worried Linghu Chong might be in trouble so she quickly used her qingggong to go back besides her carriage. "Brother Chong, there are people coming!"

But Linghu Chong just laughed. "You're eavesdropping on other people killing chicken and feeding dog again, aren't you? Otherwise, why would you listen for so long?"

"Pei!" Yingying retorted, her face becoming hot as she thought of Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi talking about 'becoming real husband and wife' inside their carriage. "They were... they were talking about practising... practising the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

"You hesitated! There must be some other odd things. Quickly come up and tell me everything. You can't hold anything back from me."

"I'm not coming up! It's not proper."

"Why is it not proper?" Linghu Chong asked while laughing.

"I don't know!"

The sound of the horses' hooves had gotten nearer by now. Yingying said, "I think these are the surviving Qingcheng School people coming to take their revenge!"

Linghu Chong sat up. "Let's go there slowly, we still have a bit of time."

"Yes," Yingying knew Linghu Chong was very concerned about Yue Lingshan, and that he must help even though he was heavily injured. Moreover, her mind wouldn't be at ease if she left him by himself aboard the carriage while she went to help. She quickly supported him to get down from the carriage. Linghu Chong stepped onto the ground with his left foot and felt a slight pain in his wound, causing him to falter and bump the wheel of the carriage. The mule drawing the carriage had made no sound at all so far, but as the carriage was shaken, it thought it was being urged to move so it lifted its head to neigh. Yingying's short sword flashed and the mule's head dropped to the ground cleanly cut.

"Good!" Linghu Chong lightly praised her. He wasn't actually praising her quick swordplay. With her martial art, there was nothing special for her sword to be able to cut the mule's head off in one stroke. But what was special was her quick thinking which prevented the mule from making any noise at all. As to how the carriage was going to move later and how they were going to travel, it was another matter.

Linghu Chong had walked for several steps when he heard the horses' hooves had come even nearer. He quickened his steps. Yingying pondered, "He wants to get there before the enemy so he's walking really fast, but it'll affect his wound. If I carry him, wouldn't that make him feel ashamed?" She giggled and said, "Brother Chong, I'm sorry." She didn't wait for Linghu Chong's answer but extended her right hand to grab his waist while her left hand grabbed his collar. She lifted his body up and used her qinggong to quickly go through the field of tall sorghum. Linghu Chong appreciated it but he also felt this was funny. He thought in his heart that he was the respectable headmaster of Heng-Shan School, but she was carrying him like she was carrying a baby. If someone were to see this, he would definitely lose face. But if they didn't do this, then they wouldn't be able to stay ahead of the Qingcheng School people and little martial sister would be in danger. She obviously had lifted him because she knew what he was thinking in his heart.

After Yingying had gone further forward for dozens of steps, the sound of the horses' hooves had gotten much closer. She turned her head around but all she could see in the darkness was dots of flames of the torches carried by the people on the horses. She said, "These people are really daring, they're actually carrying fire to chase them."

"They're staking their lives to carry out their strike so they don't care about anything. Aiyo, this isn't good!"

Yingying had also thought of it and she said, "Qingcheng School wants to burn the carriage."

"Let's cut them off and don't let them through."

"There's no need to worry, we'll be able to save the two of them."

Linghu Chong knew her martial art ability. Furthermore, Yu Canghai had died, and the remaining Qingcheng School people were extremely insignificant, so he didn't worry anymore. Yingying carried Linghu Chong until they were dozens of feet away from Yue Lingshan's carriage, then she helped him to sit within the field of tall sorghum. She whispered, "Sit quietly here and don't move."

Then from inside the carriage, Yue Lingshan said, "The enemy is coming quickly. They're Qingcheng School's rats."

"How do you know?" Lin Pingzhi asked.

"They're carrying torches to chase us. Hng, they really are fearless."

"Everyone's carrying a torch?"

"That's right."

Lin Pingzhi had gone through a lot of trials and tribulations so his mind was very meticulous and he was much more alert than Yue Lingshan. "Quickly get down!" He hastily said. "Those rats are going to burn the carriage!"

"Yes!" Yue Lingshan agreed. She also thought this was very reasonable. "Otherwise why are they carrying so many torches for?" She leapt down from the carriage and extended her hand to grip Lin Pingzhi's hand. Lin Pingzhi also jumped down. The two of them walked for dozens of feet to hide within the tall sorghum, and they were actually very close to where Linghu Chong and Yingying were hiding.

With thunderous sound of the hooves, Qingcheng School people arrived at the carriage. They first cut off its path before surrounding it from all sides. One of the person shouted, "Lin Pingzhi, you dog, are you trying to be a turtle? You still don't want to stick your head out?" They heard no sound coming from inside the carriage.

Another person said, "I'm afraid they've gone off the carriage and fled." Linghu Chong and Yingying then saw a torch arching through the darkness as it was tossed towards the carriage. Suddenly, a hand shot out from inside the carriage, grabbed the torch, and tossed it back.

The Qingcheng people made a lot of noise and shouted, "The dog is inside the carriage! The dog is inside the carriage!"

This was really beyond Linghu Chong's and Yingying's expectation. They never expected there would be another strong helper inside the carriage. But Yue Lingshan was even more surprised. Lin Pingzhi and she had been talking for so long but they never knew there was another person inside the carriage. Looking at how this person had tossed the torch back, it showed that his arm was quite strong and his martial art was quite high. The disciples of Qingcheng tossed in eight more torches, and that person tossed each one back. Even though his tosses didn't injure anyone, it stopped the remaining Qingcheng disciples from throwing anymore torches. They instead circled the carriage from far away and made a lot of noise. Under the firelight, everyone saw that it was a withered and sallow hand with blue veins sticking out. It was clearly the hand of an old person.

A person shouted, "It's not Lin Pingzhi!"

Another person shouted, "It's not his wife either."

Another person said, "That son of a turtle is afraid to come out, he's probably injured."

They hesitated for a long time and saw there was no movement in the carriage at all. Suddenly, with a cry, more than twenty of them charged forward with their swords drawn to stick them into the carriage. With a loud cracking sound, a person leapt up from the top of the carriage and a sword flickered in his hand. He flew behind the Qingcheng disciples and slashed out with his sword dropping two Qingcheng disciples to the ground. That person was wearing a yellow gown, appearing to be a person from Songshan School. His face was covered by a piece of cloth and only his bright eyes could be seen. His sword was wonderfully quick, and within a few moves, another two Qingcheng disciples had been struck by his sword and dropped to the ground.

Linghu Chong was holding Yingying's hand, and both of them thought of the same thing, "This person is also using the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

But this person wasn't Yue Buqun, judging by the shape of his body. The two of them again thought of the same thing, "In this world, besides Yue Buqun, Lin Pingzhi, and Zuo Lengchan, there's actually a fourth person who knows how to use the Evil Resisting Sword Art."

Yue Lingshan whispered to Lin Pingzhi, "This person's sword art looks similar to yours."

Lin Pingzhi gasped in surprise and he asked, "He... He can also use my sword art? You didn't see it wrongly?"

After a time, three more Qingcheng disciples were struck down by the sword. By then, Linghu Chong and Yingying had worked out that person's sword art. Even though this person was using the sword moves from the Evil Resisting Sword Art, his speed in jumping, rushing, and retreating was way below that of Dongfang Bubai's. He was not even as good as Yue Buqun or Lin Pingzhi who could mysteriously appear and disappear. It was just that this person's martial art was high and he was far above all of the Qingcheng disciples there. Added to that, Evil Resisting Sword Art was fantastic so even though it was one against many, he still held the upper hand.

Yue Lingshan said, "His sword art looks really similar to yours but he's not as quick as you."

Lin Pingzhi sighed and replied, "If he's not fast, he doesn't know the essence of my family's sword art then. But... but, who is he? How does he know how to use this sword art?"

As the sound of battle raged on, another Qingcheng disciple was pierced by the masked person's long sword through the chest. That masked man shouted, pulled his long sword, and cut another person's waist separating him into two. The remaining Qingcheng people trembled in fear and four of them ran away. That person roared and rushed forward for two steps. From among the Qingcheng disciples, some of them cried out and turned their heads to run away. Seeing this, the remaining disciples were discouraged and they all fled. Some of them rode double, while some were in too much of a hurry to ride their horses so they sprinted away on their feet. In just a moment, they had all scattered away. That masked person was obviously quite exhausted as he propped his long sword on the ground and panted heavily. Linghu Chong and Yingying discovered from his gasps that just from fighting for a short time, this person had consumed a lot of internal energy and he had probably been injured internally as well.