THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Grief Part 4

Yue Buqun again laughed loudly. "Nonsense, Songshan School? Is there still a Songshan School in this world? Songshan School has merged into the Five Mountains School. Within Wulin, Songshan School's name is no more. Why would Lin Pingzhi go to rely on Songshan School? Also, Lin Pingzhi knows Zuo Lengchan is my subordinate. Instead of coming to his father-in-law who is the headmaster of the Five Mountains School, he went to rely on a blind person who can even barely protect himself. Even among the dumbest person in this world, this kind of stupidity simply couldn't exist."

"It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not. You can ask Lin Pingzhi yourself when you find him."

Yue Buqun's voice turned grim as he said, "The person I'm looking for right now isn't Lin Pingzhi. It's Linghu Chong. Everyone in Jianghu is saying that Linghu Chong was rude to my daughter and that she fought back against that traitor with all of her power until she was finally killed. You've weaved this lie to hide Linghu Chong, so it's obvious you're working together with him."

Yingying snorted and laughed derisively.

"Young lady Ren, your father is the Chief of the Sun Moon Sect. I originally wouldn't have given you any trouble, but to force Linghu Chong to come out, there's no other way, I'm forced to punish you a little bit. First, I'm going to chop off your left hand. Then, I'll chop off your right hand. Next would be your left foot, followed by your right foot. If that bastard Linghu Chong still has the slightest bit of conscience, then he will show up."

"I don't think you dare," Yingying shouted. "If you harm one hair on my head, my father will kill everyone in your Five Mountains School and not leave a single one alive."

Yue Buqun smiled and said, "I don't dare?" After he said this, he slowly pulled out the long sword hanging on his waist out of its scabbard.

Linghu Chong couldn't take it anymore so he rushed out of the underbrush and shouted, "Master, Linghu Chong's here!"

Yingying gasped in surprised and hastily said, "Go away, go away! He doesn't dare to harm me."

Linghu Chong shook his head as he walked a few steps closer. "Master..."

"Little thief, you still have some face to call me: 'Master?'" Yue Buqun said severely.

Linghu Chong's eyes were brimming with tears as he knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice, "Emperor of Heaven, Linghu Chong has always treated Miss Yue with respect. I would never dare to be rude to her. Linghu Chong has received your kindness and was brought up by you. If you want to kill me then kill me."

Yingying was worried; she called out, "Brother Chong, this person is half-male, half-female, he's lost his humanity long ago, quickly go away!"

Yue Buqun's face suddenly turned murderous as he turned toward Yingying and grimly said, "What do you mean by that?"

"You practised the Evil Resisting Sword Art, cas... cas... carelessly disturbed yourself and made yourself half-dead half-alive just like a ghost. Brother Chong, do you remember Dongfang Bubai? All of them are crazy, don't treat them like ordinary people." Yingying was hoping Linghu Chong would flee at once. She knew that after what she just said, Yue Buqun would never let her go but she didn't care about that.

Yue Buqun coldly said, "Where did you hear those cynical remarks you just made?"

"From Lin Pingzhi's own mouth. You stole Lin Pingzhi's Evil Resisting Sword Manual, you think he doesn't know? When you threw that Buddhist robe down the canyon, Lin Pingzhi was hiding outside your window. He took that robe. That's why he... he also learned the Evil Resisting Sword Art. If not for this, how would he be able to kill Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai? With regards to how he finished learning the Evil Resisting Sword Art, of course, you know how this is done as well. Brother Chong, listen to Yue Buqun's voice. It's just like a girl. He... he and Dongfang Bubai are the same, they lost their normal sex a long time ago."

She heard the conversation between Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan inside the carriage, but Linghu Chong did not. She knew Linghu Chong respected and loved his Master. She also didn't want to add to his sadness, and this topic was very inconvenient to speak of, so she had not mentioned it in the last few months. But at this time, it was very urgent so she was forced to reveal this to make Linghu Chong understand, to make him see that the person in front of him wasn't a great headmaster in Wulin. But he was merely a freak who had lost his sex, and that he was also an insane person who could not be spoken to with reason.

The murderous look on Yue Buqun's eyes became fiercer. He loathingly said, "Young lady Ren, I wanted to spare you your life. But after this nonsense you spouted, I can't allow you to live anymore. You courted your own death, don't blame me for this."

Yingying shouted, "Brother Chong, quickly go, quickly go!"

Linghu Chong knew his master's hand was extremely fast, and with just a tremble of his sword, Yingying would immediately lose her life. When he saw Yue Buqun had lifted his sword, looking like he was going to thrust out, he shouted, "If you want to kill someone, then kill me, don't harm her."

Yue Buqun turned his head around and laughed coldly. "You've just learned a little bit of a three-legged sword art and you think you can run amuck in Jianghu? Pick up the sword. I'll kill you to make you believe."

"I wouldn't dare... wouldn't dare to fight against mas... fight against you," Linghu Chong stammered out.

"Even today, what are you putting on air for?" Yue Buqun shouted. "That day on the boat on the Yellow River and the Five Tyrant Ridge, you allied yourself with the people from the unorthodox path, and deliberately made me lose face. I've already decided to kill you back then, but it's very good for you that I've been putting up with you so far. At Fuzhou, you fell into my hand. If it wasn't for my wife blocking me, I would've sent you to the King of Hell back then. I made a mistake back then, and now you've instead taken my daughter's life."

Linghu Chong hastily called out, "I didn't... I didn't... "

"Pick up the sword!" Yue Buqun angrily shouted. "You only have to win against this sword in my hand and then you can kill me straight away. Otherwise, I also won't spare you. This Devil Sect's witch likes to speak nonsense, let me cripple her first!" When he finished speaking, he slashed his sword to behead Yingying.

Linghu Chong's left hand was still holding the big piece of rock. Originally, he wanted to use it to help Yue Buqun by stopping him from falling down the trap. At this point, with no time to think, he quickly tossed the rock at Yue Buqun's chest. Yue Buqun leaned his body to one side to dodge it. Linghu Chong rolled on the ground, picked up the long sword Yingying had dropped on the ground, and stabbed it at Yue Buqun's left leg. If Yue Buqun had slashed his sword toward Linghu Chong initially, Linghu Chong would've stood still and was prepared to get stabbed. But after hearing Yingying revealing his secret, Yue Buqun was so startled and angry that he actually chopped at Yingying first. Linghu Chong couldn't do anything else but help. Yue Buqun blocked three attacks and retreated for two steps. He was secretly amazed. He just blocked three times, but his whole arm was shaken and felt numb. When they fought at the Shaolin Temple, they fought for more than a thousand moves, but Linghu Chong didn't use his true internal energy with his sword. But at this time, he did not give way in his three attacks.

Linghu Chong forced Yue Buqun to step back, while he extended his hand backwards to release Yingying's sealed acupoints. Yingying called out, "Don't worry about me, watch out!"

White light flashed as Yue Buqun's long sword thrust forward. Linghu Chong had seen Dongfang Bubai, Yue Buqun, and Lin Pingzhi's martial arts, so he knew his opponent's movements were unbelievably quick like a ghost or a demon. If he waited till he saw a flaw in the oncoming attack, he would've gotten stabbed. So he counterattacked by slashing at Yue Buqun's lower abdomen with his long sword.

Yue Buqun quickly leapt back and scolded, "What a fierce small thief!" Actually, even though Yue Buqun had raised Linghu Chong since he was small, he didn't understand him. If he had actually ignored Linghu Chong's counter attack and kept on thrusting his sword, he would've taken Linghu Chong's life. Even though Linghu Chong was using a common ruin method, he would never have continued his attack and pierced his master's lower abdomen. Yue Buqun was judging other people by what he would do himself so he immediately leapt back, missing a good opportunity to injure his opponent.

After several moves, Yue Buqun couldn't stand it anymore so he increased the speed of his sword. Linghu Chong concentrated his mind to keep up. In the beginning, Linghu Chong was thinking that if he were to die under his master's hand, there was no pity in that for him except Yingying would also be killed. Furthermore, Yingying's word had harmed his master so she would definitely be tortured before she die. Thus, he exerted himself in fighting back with all of his heart so as to protect Yingying. After fighting for several dozens moves, Yue Buqun's changes became complicated. Linghu Chong concentrated fully on the fight and he was gradually enlightened. His eyes were now only looking at the point of his opponent's sword.

With Dugu Nine Swords, the stronger the enemy was the more powerful it became. That day below the West Lake inside the prison, he fought with Ren Woxing whose martial art was of one of the highest quality which was very rare in this world. But no matter how Ren Woxing's sword rose, shifted, and changed, Linghu Chong's Dugu Nine Sword adapted reactively against his moves. Whether it was attacking or defending, he countered each move successfully. At present, Linghu Chong had already learned the Art of Essence Absorbing and his internal energy had improved greatly since that time below the West Lake. Even though Yue Buqun's Evil Resisting Sword Art was weird, he had not learnt it for very long and he was not as good as Linghu Chong who had studied his Dugu Nine Sword for quite some time now. Compared to Dongfang Bubai, Yue Buqun was much worse.

After fighting for more than a hundred and fifty six moves, Linghu Chong didn't think deeply anymore when wielding his sword as there was barely any time to think with Yue Buqun's quick swordplay attacking him. Even though the Lin family's Evil Resisting Sword Art was made up of seventy two moves, each move had several dozens changes, and as it went through all the variations, the changes became very complicated. If other people saw this swordplay, even if they didn't become dizzy from looking at it, they would still be bewildered from seeing this complicated swordplay and they wouldn't be able to execute their own sword moves. But the Dugu Nine Swords that Linghu Chong learned had no set moves to speak of, so it was natural for him to follow the movements of his opponent. If the enemy only had one move, then he would only have one move. If the enemy had a thousand moves then he would also have a thousand moves. Thus, in Yue Buqun's eyes, Linghu Chong's swordplay was very complicated and was far better than his own sword art. He was afraid that even if they fought for three days and three nights, Linghu Chong would still come up with more new moves. Yue Buqun thought till here and he couldn't help feeling afraid. He also thought, "This witch from the Ren family has already found out the secret of me learning this sword art. If I can't kill these two people today, this matter will be spread throughout Jianghu. Then how can I still have the face to be the headmaster of the Five Mountains School? All of my planning would've been ruined. But that traitor Lin Pingzhi already told this Ren witch, so what would prevent him from saying this to other people? This... this..." With anxiety in his heart, his swordplay became even fiercer but his mind was agitated and his swordplay was actually hindered. The Evil Resisting Sword Art depended on speed to take victory. If you fought for more than a hundred moves yet was still unable to win, then the fierceness of this sword art would unavoidably be lessened. Also, with his heart separated, the power of his sword art was greatly reduced.