DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 2 of 5 (Shrouding Screen In Suzhou) by Jin Yong

I'll Go, Despite A Myriad Of Foes Part 1

Qiao Feng channeled his internal energy for a long time. Suddenly, he heard two soft 'ge-ge' sounds high above in the northwest corner. He knew that there was a person in wulin walking on the roof. After that, there were also 2 sounds up in the southeast corner. When hearing the sounds in the northwest, Qiao Feng had still not paid any attention to them, but when there were 2 people gathering together like this, he knew it was likely they had come because of him. He lowered his voice and said to A'Zhu: 'I go out for a while and will come back immediately, don't be afraid.' A'Zhu nodded. Qiao Feng did not blow out the candle. As the door of the room was half closed, he turned his body sideways and went out. He then went around to the window at the backyard and stood next to the wall.

He only heard someone say in a room in the east of the inn: 'Is that 8th master Xiang? Please come down.' The man on the northwest corner laughed and said: 'Qi the Sixth of Guanxi has also arrived.' The man in the room said: 'Very good, very good! Please come in together.' 2 people jumped down from the roof in succession and walked into the room.

Qiao Feng thought: 'Qi the Sixth of Guanxi is called 'Fast Saber Qi Liu' (Liu = Six). He's a famous brave man in Guanxi. That 8th master Xiang is most prolly Xiang Wanghai of Xiangdong. I've heard that these people are generous in aiding the needy and their martial arts are remarkable. These 2 people aren't the treacherous vicious type and have no dispute with me either. Definitely they've come here not because of me. It turns out I've had a silly suspicion. The voice of the man in the room sounds somewhat familiar, but who is he?'

He heard Xiang Wanghai say: ''Yama's Foe' Divine doctor Xue suddenly sends out hero invitation cards to invite every fellow in jianghu, the situation is also very urgent because it says 'To the hero who sees this card, your esteemed presence is requested.' Big brother Bao, do you know what this is for?'

When Qiao Feng heard the words 'Yama's Foe Divine doctor Xue', he immediately had a mixed feeling of happiness and fright: 'Divine doctor Xue is around here? I only knew that he was far away in Ganzhou. If he is around here, the little maid A'Zhu can be saved.'

He had heard that Divine doctor Xue was the number one wizard in medical circles nowadays. Because the 2 words 'Divine doctor' were too famous, everyone did not even know what his original real name was. The tales of him in jianghu were even more exaggerating, saying that he could even bring the dead back to life, as for the people who were alive, no matter how serious the injuries or illnesses they suffered were, he always had methods to cure them, and for this reason Yama of Hell also had a serious headache as every time he sent Wuchang little demons to capture people, Divine doctor Xue would often stay at the side and thwart them or block the way and snatch the people. Not only did Divine doctor Xue have godlike medical knowledge, his martial arts were also outstanding. He liked making friends with fellows in jianghu. When he cured a person of an illness, he often consulted them about 1 martial arts stance or two. The person involved felt grateful to him for saving their life therefore naturally they would not hold back anything when passing on their knowledge and only teach him their proudest skills.

He heard Fast Saber Qi Liu ask: 'Shopkeeper Bao, recently have you bought or sold something good?' Qiao Feng thought: 'No wonder the voice of the man in the room sounds familiar. It turns out he's 'No Capital' Bao Qianling. This man robs the rich to aid the poor. He has quite a heroic reputation. That year, when I assumed the Beggar Society's Chief post, he also participated in the ceremony.'

Already knowing that there were 3 people Xiang Wanghai, Qi Liu and Bao Qianling in the room, he did not want to hear other people's private matters and thought: 'Tomorrow morning I'll visit Bao Qianling's room and ask him about where Divine doctor Xue is staying.' When he was about to return to A'Zhu's room, suddenly he heard Bao Qianling sighed and said: 'Oh, for the past several days I've been in a very bad mood and uninterested in buying or selling. Today, hearing that he killed his father, mother and master, I was even more furious.' As he finished saying he stretched out his hand and gave the table a heavy slap.

When Qiao Feng heard the words 'killed his father, mother, and master', he was scared: 'They're talking about me.'

Xiang Wanghai said: 'This Qiao Feng guy has always had a big reputation and been hypocritical. Not just a few people have been fooled by him. Who would have expected he could commit monstrous crimes like this?' Bao Qianling said: 'That year, when he assumed the Beggar Society's Chief post, I and he also had a chance to meet each other. I've always totally admired the conduct of this man in the past. Hearing Zhao the Third say he belonged to the Khitan barbaric ethnic group, I still tried my best to argue that he didn't, for this reason I and Zhao the Third quarreled to the point that we turned purple with rage and almost had a fight with each other. Oh, barbaric people really are the same as animals. He could hide it for a period of time, but later on, the ferocious character eventually broke open.' Qi Liu said: 'Who could have expected that he has roots in Shaolin Monastery? Xuan Ku dashi was his master.' Bao Qianling said: 'This matter at first was very secret. Even in Shaolin School, very few people knew about it. But Qiao Feng already killed his master so Shaolin School can no longer conceal the truth. This Qiao surnamed vicious traitor only thought that after killing his father, mother and master he'd be able to hide his origin and he'd rather die than admit it to anyone. But he couldn't have expected that he would overreach himself and his sins would become more and more serious.'

Standing outside the door, hearing Bao Qianling assessing his mind like this, Qiao Feng thought: ''No Capital' Bao Qianling and I can be regarded as having some friendship. This man is definitely not the type to make irresponsible remarks. If even he is saying like this, of course other people's words are even more unbearable. Oh, I, Qiao Feng, have suffered this unjustifiable injustice, why should I bother clearing myself of it? From now on I'll just conceal my identity, more than 10 years later, friends in jianghu would all forget that there's a person like me, that's all.' In an instant, he could not help but feeling utterly disheartened.

He heard Xiang Wanghai continue: 'My guess is that Divine doctor Xue sends out hero invitation cards to confer with other people about how to deal with Qiao Feng. This 'Yama's Foe' hates evil like an enemy, I've also heard that he and the 2 dashi Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji of Shaolin Monastery have a really deep friendship.' Bao Qianling said: 'Correct! I think recently in jianghu, besides Qiao Feng doing evil, there's no other major affair. Brother Xiang, brother Qi, come on, come on, come on, let's drink up several Jin (600 g) of white spirit, tonight we're gonna have a long talk.'

Qiao Feng thought even if they talked till dawn, they would merely make an extra effort to angrily scold him hence he did not want to hear anymore and returned to A'Zhu's room immediately.

Seeing that his face was pale and was having a very ugly expression, A'Zhu asked: 'Great master Qiao, did you meet enemies?' She was worried that he had suffered internal injuries. Qiao Feng shook his head. A'Zhu was still uneasy, she asked: 'You're not injured, right?'

Ever since Qiao Feng had started to step into jianghu, he had only been respected by friends and feared by enemies. He had never been despised and looked down upon like he had for the past several days. Hearing A'Zhu ask him so, he could not help but sense his pride rising. He said loudly: 'No, I'm not. It's not difficult for those ignorant narrow-minded lowlifes to defame and spread false rumors about me, but if they want to fight and injure me, it may not necessarily be easy.' Suddenly, heroic and mettlesome feelings surged up in his heart. He said: 'A'Zhu, tomorrow I'm gonna find the best doctor under heaven to treat the injury for you. Just relax and sleep.'

Seeing his proud expression, A'Zhu had a lot of respect and admiration for him but she was also scared. She felt that the man in front of her was totally different than Mr Murong but they also had very many similarities as both of them did not fear Heaven and Hell, and were both prideful and majestic. But Qiao Feng was straightforward and heroic like a mighty lion, while Mr Murong was refined and unaffected like a phoenix.

After making up his mind, Qiao Feng was no longer worried. He then fell asleep soon after sitting down on the chair.

A'Zhu saw the dim lamplight beaming on his face. After a while, she could hear him snoring. Suddenly, his facial muscles twitched slightly and he ground his teeth. The muscles on both sides of his square face stuck out. A'Zhu felt that the brawny man in front of her was very pitiable and really was much unhappier than she herself was.

Early in the morning of the next day, Qiao Feng transferred his internal energy to A'Zhu, paid the rent and asked the inn attendant to go hire a mule wagon. He helped A'Zhu take a sit in the wagon then went to the outside of Bao Qianling's room and said loudly: 'Brother Bao, this little brother Qiao Feng pays a visit.'

After cursing Qiao Feng for half a night, the 3 people Bao Qianling, Xiang Wanghai and Qi Liu had been very tired and fallen asleep. At this moment they had not yet waken up. Suddenly hearing the shout by Qiao Feng, they were all frightened and immediately jumped out of the earthen bed simultaneously, taking out the saber, drawing the sword, and touching the whip. As soon as the 3 people held weapons in their hands, they were dumbfounded because they saw that there was a small piece of white paper on which 4 small words 'Qiao Feng paying respects' were written sticking to the weapon of each of them. The 3 people looked at each other, gasping with astonishment. They knew that the previous night Qiao Feng had played a trick on them, had he wanted to take their lives, it would have been as easy as turning his hand over. Among them, Bao Qianling was even more embarrassed as his nickname was 'No Capital'; he had gone to thousands of houses in the daytime and had broken through hundreds of doors at nighttime; leaping onto roofs, vaulting over walls and stealing other people's money were his best skills, yet during the night he had been played a prank on by Qiao Feng without knowing anything about it until now.