THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

No Treaty Part 4

"Friends," Bao Dachu said in a loud voice. "Please go and see Sacred Chief."

Yiqing and the rest of the disciples saw Linghu Chong sitting on the side. They knew Ren Woxing was his father-in-law, so even though they felt the orthodox and demonical shouldn't be together, on account of their headmaster, they paid their respects as juniors. Walking to the front of the Deity's Palm, they bowed to pay their respect. "Heng-Shan School's junior disciples pay our respects to Chief Ren!"

"Kneel and kowtow!" Bao Dachu ordered.

"We're Buddhist," Yiqing replied in a loud voice. "We worship Buddha, worship Boddhisatva, worship master, we don't worship ordinary people!"

"Sacred Chief isn't an ordinary person," Bao Dachu shouted. "He's a divine deity just like Buddha and Boddhisatva!"

Yiqing turned her head to look at Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong shook his head.

"If you want to kill us then kill us!" Yiqing replied. "Disciples of Heng-Shan do not worship ordinary people!"

"Well said, well said!" Monk No Commandment said as he laughed aloud.

"Which school are you from?" Xiang Wentian indignantly questioned. "Where do you come from?"

He saw Heng-Shan School's disciples weren't willing to kowtow to Ren Woxing and the situation was now at a deadlock. If they troubled the female disciples then it wouldn't be good in front of Linghu Chong. So he immediately turned to Monk No Commandment to divide Ren Woxing's attention and make him forget of the kowtow incident.

"Big temples don't want to take me in, while little temples don't want such a wild monk, so I have no family or school," Monk No Commandment laughingly replied. "I heard there'll be lots of people gathering here so I came here to take a look and join in the revelry."

"Today, the Divine Sun Moon Sect is here to meet the five mountains sword schools," Xiang Wentian said. "Other people aren't allowed to be here. Go down the mountain!"

Xiang Wentian said this politely because he was taking into account Linghu Chong's face. He saw Monk No Commandment had come up together with the Heng-Shan School's female disciples so he expected him to be related to the Heng-Shan School. Thus, he didn't want to make things to difficult for him.

"This Mount Huashan doesn't belong to your Devil Sect," said a smiling No Commandment. "If I want to be here then I'll be here, if I want to go then I'll go. Besides the Huashan School's disciples, who dares to tell me what to do?"

These words 'Devil Sect' were a very big taboo in the Sun Moon Sect. Even though the people in Wulin often used the word 'Devil Sect' behind their backs, they'd never blatantly speak these words to their faces. Monk No Commandment was a very frank person who spoke his mind and there was nothing he was afraid of saying. When he heard Xiang Wentian telling him to go down the mountain, he was displeased and didn't even care how many people the enemy had, and unexpectedly didn't show any fear.

Xiang Wentian turned to Linghu Chong and said, "Brother Linghu, what's the relationship between your honourable school and this crazy monk?"

Linghu Chong's chest and stomach were in great pain so he tremblingly replied, "This... this is Great Master No Commandment..."

Ren Woxing was extremely angry to have heard No Commandment addressed them as the 'Devil Sect'. He was afraid Linghu Chong might say that this monk was deeply connected to him and then they wouldn't be able to kill him. Without waiting for Linghu Chong to finish, he immediately shouted, "Kill this crazy monk!"

"As ordered!" eight elders in yellow gown acknowledged. They cupped their fists and attacked No Commandment immediately after.

"You're relying on many people?" No Commandment shouted. He only said a few words and the attacks from these eight elders had arrived.

"How shameless!" that granny scolded.

She leapt in the crowd, got behind Monk No Commandment's back, and used her palms to fight with the enemies. These eight elders were Sun Moon Sect's number one experts, and their martial arts were about similar to that of No Commandment and that granny. Moreover, with eight against two, they soon got the upper hand. Tian Boguang pulled out his knife and Yilin raised her long sword to enter the fight. Both of their martial arts were far below theirs, and two of the eight elders separated to fight them. Tian Boguang fought with his fast knife chops and he was able to hold up. But Yilin was already pressed by her enemy until she was gasping for air. If it wasn't for the fact that the elder saw her wearing Heng-Shan School's uniform, and that he was giving way to her on Linghu Chong's account, she would've been killed.

Linghu Chong stooped down and pressed his left hand to his stomach. His right hand pulled his long sword out and called out, "Stop... stop!" Rushing into the fight with his long sword trembling, he executed eight moves to force four elders to move back. He turned around and executed another eight moves. These sixteen moves were from the 'Dugu Nine Sword Art' and each move was aimed at an elder's fatal point. The eight elders were forced back and they didn't dare to fight with him for real so they all stepped back.

Linghu Chong crouched on the ground and said, "Chief... Chief Ren, on my account, please... please let them..." But he couldn't utter the last word 'go'.

Ren Woxing saw his situation and guessed that the different types of internal energy inside his body were coming out. He knew that his daughter wanted to marry him and he himself liked his personality. Also, as he never had a son, he was hoping that he would someday be the divine sect's chief. So he immediately nodded his head and said, "Since Headmaster Linghu requested this, I'll be lenient today."

Xiang Wentian moved in a flash with both his hands striking out to seal the acupoints on No Commandment and his wife, Tian Boguang and Yilin. He struck out really fast and mysteriously. Even though that granny had fast as lightning movement, she unexpectedly couldn't escape from his strike.

"Xiang... Xiang..." Linghu Chong was alarmed.

"Don't worry," Xiang Wentian laughed. "Sacred Chief already said he's going to be lenient." He turned his head and called out, "Eight guards, step out!"

Eight people wearing blue-green gowns came out and bowed. "We're ready to receive Left Protector Xiang's order!"

"Four males and four females," Xiang Wentian said.

Four males immediately stepped back and replaced by four females.

"These four people spoke improperly and ought to have been killed," Xiang Wentian said. "But Sacred Chief is lenient and tolerant and on account of Headmaster Linghu, he granted them leniency. Take them down the mountain and unseal their acupoints."

The eight respectfully bowed and acknowledged the order.

Xiang Wentian lowered his voice and relayed more order, "They're Headmaster Linghu's friends. Don't be rude to them."

"Yes!" the eight people answered. Taking these four people behind their backs, they went down from the peak.

Linghu Chong and Yingying saw No Commandment and the other three people had escaped with their lives so they let out a long sigh of relief.

"Thank... Thank you!" Linghu Chong said in trembling voice from his crouching position on the ground as he couldn't stand back up. Just then when he executed the sixteen moves, he forced the eight elders to retreat. However, each of these elders had excellent martial arts and his sword moves wouldn't have been able to injure them. Although he used these sixteen moves in the blink of an eye, he had consumed a large amount of energy to do so. Now, his chest and stomach felt even more painful.

Xiang Wentian was secretly worried but his face wasn't showing it. He laughingly said, "Brother Linghu, are you unwell?"

Back then, Linghu Chong and he combined together to fight against numerous heroes and became sword brothers. Even though they had rarely met, their friendship would never change through life and death. He took Linghu Chong's hand and supported him to sit back on his chair while secretly giving Linghu Chong his inner energy to help him fight against the turmoil in his internal energy. Linghu Chong thought that since he had the 'Art of Essence Absorbing' so with Xiang Wentian doing this, he might inadvertently absorb Xiang Wentian's martial art. Thus, he quickly struggled to break free from Xiang Wentian's grip. "Big Brother Xiang, don't! I'm... I'm ok now."

"From among the five mountains sword schools, only Heng-Shan School came to this meeting," Ren Woxing said. "The disciples from the remaining four schools are unexpectedly afraid to come up to this peak. We won't be polite anymore then."

At this time, Shangguan Yun quickly walked up to the peak and arrived at the front of the Deity's Palm. He bowed and said, "Reporting to Sacred Chief: Inside the cave on the Cliff of Contemplation, I found hundreds of corpses. Songshan School's Headmaster Zuo Lengchan is amongst the dead. There are also countless Songshan's, Hengshan's, and Taishan's master-hands. It seems they had killed each other."

"Ah!" Ren Woxing gasped. "Hengshan's Headmaster Mo Da is among them?"

"Subordinate carefully examined the corpses," Shangguan Yun reported. "I didn't find Mo Da among them. I also didn't find his traces anywhere in Huashan."