DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 1 of 5 (Adventures of The Youth) by Jin Yong

Boundless Regrets of Profligate Love Part 1

Duan Zhengchun and the others returned to his palace, where a feast had been prepared. At the banquet table, aside from Duan Zhengchun and his wife, and Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing, no one else was present save the servants, which numbered seventeen or eighteen. In her entire life, how could Mu Wanqing have seen or experienced such splendor and luxury? She had neither heard of nor ever seen any of the dishes which were being presented.

She saw that Duan Zhengchun and his wife were treating her like a member of the family. It were as though two generations of husband and wife were happily dining together. Her affection was won by this display.

Duan Yu saw that his mother was continuing to treat his father somewhat coolly. She neither drank, nor ate any meat. The only dishes she touched were some vegetarian dishes. Duan Yu poured out a cup of wine, then, holding it with both hands, rose to his feet. "Mother, your son would like to offer you a cup. My respectful congratulations on you and father reconciling. Finally, our family of three can enjoy domestic bliss again."

The Sage of Hollow Jade replied, "I don't drink wine." Duan Yu poured out yet another cup of wine, then winked towards Mu Wanqing. "Miss Mu would also like to offer you a cup." Taking the cup with both hands, Mu Wanqing also rose to her feet.

The Sage of Hollow Jade felt that it wouldn't be appropriate to act too coldly towards Mu Wanqing. She let out a small smile. "Miss, this son of mine is extremely naughty. We, his parents, aren't able to control him. In the future, you'll have to help us keep him under control." Mu Wanqing replied, "If he's disobedient, I'll grab him by his ears and beat him!"

The Sage of Hollow Jade let out a surprised laugh, then glanced at her husband out of the corner of her eye. Duan Zhengchun laughed. "That's how it should be."

The Sage of Hollow Jade extended her left hand to accept the wine cup from Mu Wanqing. Underneath the flickering candlelight, Mu Wanqing saw that her hand was delicate and fine, as clear and lustrous as fine jade. On the back of the Sage's hand, she saw some sort of mark, as red as the color of blood. Mu Wanqing's entire body began to tremble. "You...your name...is your name, Dao Baifeng?"

The Sage of Hollow Jade smiled. "My family name is very rare and unusual. How did you know?" Mu Wanqing's voice shook. "You...you are Dao Baifeng? A woman of the Baiyi tribe? Once, you wielded a soft whip as your weapon? Am I right?" The Sage of Hollow Jade saw that her expression seemed strange, but didn't harbor any misgivings against the girl. Smiling, she said, "Yu'er really is good to you. He even told you my full name. Your husband is also half Baiyi, which is probably why he acts so wildly."

Mu Wanqing asked, "You truly are Dao Baifeng?" The Sage of Hollow Jade smiled a little. "Yes, I am."

Mu Wanqing shouted, "A master's benevolence is very profound, a master's orders cannot be disobeyed!" With a lift of her right hand, she shot out two poisoned quarrels towards Dao Baifeng's chest. During the banquet, the four of them had talked and laughed together as though they were part of one family. Who could have foreseen that Mu Wanqing would suddenly attack?

Dao Baifeng's martial arts were roughly at the same level as Mu Wanqing to begin with. But at this moment, the distance between them was extremely short, and this attack was so unexpected that she wasn't able to defend herself. It seemed as though those two poisoned quarrels would hit her no matter what. Duan Zhengchun was sitting on the other side of the table, behind Mu Wanqing. He called out, "Aiyo!" He immediately struck out with a finger, but this finger could only hit Mu Wanqing, and could not save his wife.

Duan Yu had seen Mu Wanqing kill people with those poisoned quarrels many times, and knew that the venom was extremely lethal. In a very short time, the victim's blood would coagulate and choke off the victim's throat. As soon as he saw her wave her sleeves, he immediately knew something was wrong. He was sitting by his mother's side, but unfortunately did not know any martial arts. There was no way for him to deflect this attack. He sprang to his feet, immediately executing his "Graceful Steps Upon the Waves". With a slanting horizontal motion, he quickly positioned himself in front of his mother. Bo, bo! The two poisoned quarrels struck him directly in the middle of his stomach. At the same time, Mu Wanqing's back and heart suddenly felt numb, and she fell face-first towards the table, unable to move.

Duan Zhengchun, seeing the desperate situation, flew towards Duan Yu and immediately sealed the eight acupoints surrounding the area where Duan Yu had been struck by the quarrels. This would prevent the poison from spreading throughout the rest of his body for a time. With a flip of his hand and a cracking sound, he immediately dislocated Mu Wanqing's right arm, preventing her from firing off any more quarrels. Then he unsealed her acupoints. In a stern voice, he said, "Give me the antidote!"

Mu Wanqing's voice trembled. "I...I only wanted to kill Dao Baifeng. I didn't want to harm my darling Duan." Resisting the pain from her dislocated right arm, she reached towards the bosom of her clothes and withdrew two bottles filled with an extract of flowers. "The antidote in the red bottle should be taken internally, and the antidote in the white bottle should be applied externally. Hurry! If you take too long, we won't be able to save him!"

Dao Baifeng saw that her concern for Duan Yu was genuine and unfeigned. She had already roughly guessed the reasons behind the girl's actions. Stretching out her hand, she immediately snatched the medicine. She placed two red pills within her son's mouth. The other bottle was filled with a white powder. She grabbed the end of the quarrels and lightly pulled the two out, then applied a layer of the medicinal powder on top of the wound. Mu Wanqing said, "Thank heaven! He...his life won't be in danger now, otherwise I...I..."

The three people were extremely anxious. They did not know that Duan Yu had consumed the "King of Ten Thousand Poisons", the Cinnabar Toad, and that he was immune to all poisons. The venom on Mu Wanqing's quarrels couldn't do anything to him. Even if the antidote had not been applied, he would have been fine. However, after being shot with the quarrel, Duan Yu felt twinges of pain in his chest. After seeing the lethal effectiveness of the poisoned quarrels so many times, Duan Yu truly believed that he was definitely going to die. In his panic, he fainted within his mother's arms.

Watching carefully, Duan Zhengchun and his wife noticed that within a twinkling of the eye, the color of the blood flowing from Duan Yu's wound had changed. First, it had changed from black to purplish; then, it had turned from purplish to red. Only now did they let out a sigh of relief, knowing that their son's life was saved.

Dao Baifeng carried her son to his bedroom and covered him with a quilt. She took his pulse, and felt that his pulse was strong and steady. There wasn't the slightest sign of any weakness, causing her to be extremely happy. So assured, she returned once more to the dinner hall.

Duan Zhengchun asked, "No problems?" Dao Baifeng did not answer. Instead, she turned to Mu Wanqing and said, "Go tell the 'Asura Sabre' [In Buddhist mythology, Asuras are malevolent spirits], Qin Hongmian..." As soon as Duan Zhengchun heard the six words, " 'The Asura Sabre', Qin Hongmian", he said, "You...you..." Dao Baifeng paid no mind to her husband, continuing to address Mu Wanqing. "Tell her that if she wants to take my life, she should make her attempts openly and honestly. Acting with such maliciousness and deceptiveness, isn't she afraid that people will laugh their heads off?" Mu Wanqing replied, "I don't know who this 'Asura Sabre', Qin Hongmian is." Baffled, Dao Baifeng asked, "Then who is it that ordered you to kill me?"

Mu Wanqing said, "My master. She ordered me to kill two people. The first person was you. She told me I could identify you by a red mark on your hand. She told me that you are named Dao Baifeng, are of the Baiyi tribe, are very beautiful, and wield a soft whip as your weapon. She...she didn't tell me that you dressed up like a nun. I saw that your weapon was a flywhisk, and are called the 'Sage of Hollow Jade'. I never thought...never thought that you are the person whom Master wishes to kill. Much less that you are Duan Yu's mother..." And as she finished, teardrops cascaded down her face.

Dao Baifeng said, "The second person your master asked you to kill, is it the "Lovely Poisonist" Gan Baobao?" Mu Wanqing replied, "No, no! The "Lovely Poisonist" Gan Baobao is my martial uncle. She sent people to deliver a message to my master. She said that two people had caused great pain to my master all her life, and that this great wrong must be avenged no matter what..." Dao Baifeng said, "Ah, I understand. The other woman is surnamed Wang and lives in Suzhou, right?" Surprised, Mu Wanqing said, "Right. How did you know? I went with my Master to Suzhou to kill her, but this evil woman had a lot of flunkies under her command. Her dwelling was also very strange. Not only was I unable to find her, but her flunkies chased me all the way to Dali instead."

Duan Zhengchun listened with his head bowed. The color of his face alternated from blue to red.

A tear suddenly rolled down Dao Baifeng's cheek. She said towards Duan Zhengchun, "Please take good care of Yu'er and instruct him well. I...I'm leaving now." Duan Zhengchun said, "Dearest phoenix [the 'feng' character in Baifeng stands for phoenix], that's all in the past. Why are you taking it to heart?" Dao Baifeng said softly, "You aren't taking it to heart, but I am, and so are other people." Suddenly, her body flew into the air, and she leapt towards a window.

Duan Zhengchun extended his hand to grasp at her sleeve, but Dao Baifeng waved her own and shot a palm towards his face. Duan Zhengchun turned his face to avoid the blow. With a tearing sound, he ripped off half of her sleeves with his hand. Turning her head, Dao Baifeng said angrily, "Are you really intending to fight me?" Duan Zhengchun said, "Dearest phoenix, you..." With a kick of her legs, Dao Baifeng shot into the air, landing on the top of a nearby room. Within a few movements, she had already moved a hundred feet away.

From far away, Chu Wanli's voice could be faintly heard. "Who is it?" Dao Baifeng replied, "It's me." Chu Wanli said, "Ah, so it is the princess..." After this, nothing more could be heard. Dao Baifeng was far away.

Duan Zhengchun sadly remained standing for a long time. Then, with a sigh, he returned to the warm pavilion. He saw that Mu Wanqing's face was extremely pale, but that she had not fled. Duan Zhengchun reached out and took a hold of her right arm with his hands. With a "ka" sound, he popped her dislocated arm back in place. Mu Wanqing thought to herself, "I attacked his wife with poison quarrels. I wonder how he is going to torture me?" But Duan Zhengchun only sat down dispiritedly and slowly poured himself a cup of tea. With a 'gu' sound, he drained it all in one go.