DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS BOOK 4 OF 5 (SONG OF THE CAVE IMMORTAL) by Jin Yong

Carefree For Now With No One Supervising Part 2

Su XingHe cross his leg and sat down on the floor, he said: "Martial brother, you have extremely deep fortune. Ding ChunQiu and me, both of us long for this gem ring for over 10 years, but we never manage to gain possession of it, but you manage to gain Master's favour within an hour."

Xu Zhu quickly took of the ring and handed it over, he said: "Senior please take it, this gem ring, junior monk have absolutely no use for it."

Su XingHe did not take it, his expression grave, he said: "Martial brother, Master entrusted you something before he died, how can you shirk responsibility? Master gave this gem ring to you, he ask you to kill Ding ChunQiu, correct?"

Xu Zhu said: "Correct. But junior monk's martial art is superficial, how can i shoulder such heavy responsibility?"

Su XingHe sigh, he put the ring back onto Xu Zhu's finger and said: "Martial brother, you don't know the entire story, i will tell you briefly. Our sect is called Carefree Sect, as for the rules and regulations, the most senior disciple might not necessarily take up the post of Sect Leader, whoever has the strongest martial arts will be the Sect Leader."

Xu Zhu said: "Yes, yes, but junior monk's martial art is extremely disappointing."

Su XingHe ignored him and continued: "There are 3 disciples from Master's generation, Master is rank number 2, but his martial arts is better than our 2 martial uncles, thus he became the Sect Leader. Afterwards, Master accepted me and Ding ChunQiu as his disciples, Master set down a rule, all the miscellaneous skills he mastered, whoever wants to be Sect Leader have to compete in all these skills, thus we have to compete martial arts, zither, chess, calligraphy and painting. Ding ChunQiu have absolutely no understandings of these miscellaneous skills, there is no hope for him to become Sect Leader, unexpectedly he plotted against Master and push him into a deep ravine, he also inflict serious injuries on me."

Xu Zhu heard some of these details from Xue MuHua at the underground cave, but he didn't expect this matter to eventually involve him, he grumbled secretly and said: "Unexpectedly Benefactor Ding did not kill you at that time."

Su XingHe said: "Don't think that his humane and spared my life. Firstly, he can't break through my 5 element trigram, its a complex metaphysical formation, secondly, i told him: 'Ding ChunQiu, you plotted against Master, your martial art is also better than mine, but you never learn the most profound martial arts of Carefree Sect, the manual of [Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness], you want to look at it or not? The lightness martial art [Graceful Steps upon the Waves], you want to learn it or not? What about [Six Solar Palms Of Heavenly Mountain]? What about [Plum Breaking Hand Of Heavenly Mountain]? What about [Eternal Youth Never Ageing Skill]?"

"All these skills are the high-level martial arts of our Sect, even for our Master his bogged down by too much miscellaneous skills, he didn't manage to learn all these skills.' When Ding ChunQiu heard this, his so excited that his body trembled, he said to me: 'Hand over the manuals of these martial arts, i will spare your life today.' I told him: 'How can these manuals be with me? Only Master knows the hidden location of these manuals. Since you want to kill me, just do it.' Ding ChunQiu told me: 'The manuals must be near XingXiu Sea, you think i don't know?' i told him: 'Correct, its indeed near XingXiu Sea, go find it yourself if you have the ability.' He muttered to himself for a long time, XingXiu Sea spans several hundreds li, its really difficult to find these manuals, he told me: 'Fine, i won't kill you. But from now on you have to play deaf and mute, you cannot reveal the secrets of our Sect.'"

"Why didn't he kill me? He just want to leave me alive so that he can extort a confession. If he kill me, nobody will ever know the location of these martial arts manual. In reality, the manuals of these martial arts are not hidden at XingXiu Sea, they have always been kept by our Master and our 2 martial uncles. Ding ChunQiu live at XingXiu Sea, he must have searched through every single stone and pebble, naturally he didn't find the manuals of these divine skills. He came to trouble me numerous times, but i evaded him using mechanisms, metaphysical arts, etc. This time he tried to ask me again, but seeing the hopeless prospects he tried to kill me to vent his anger."

Xu Zhu said: "Fortunately senior......." Su XingHe said: "You are the Sect Leader, why you keep calling me senior, you should call me senior martial brother." Xu Zhu pondered: "This matter is extremely troublesome, i don't know when i can finally clarify this mess." He replied: "The matter on whether you are my senior martial brother or not, we will leave that aside first, even if you are my senior martial brother, you are still my senior." Su XingHe nod his head and said: "This is quite true. Just now you mention, fortunately i am what?" Xu Zhu said: "Fortunately senior exercise patience, you conserved your strength for that final push, thus at the crucial moment you finally made a surprise attack, the Old Freak of XingXiu suffered a huge defeat and left."

Su XingHe wave his hands repeatedly and said: "Martial brother, you are wrong, its so obvious that you use the divine internal energy imparted by Master and assisted me, you save my life, how come you are so modest and refuse to admit it? We are fellow apprentices, the position of Sect Leader is already decided, you save my life, i will never covet after your Sect Leader position. From now on you cannot regard me as an outsider."

Xu Zhu is very curious, he said: "When did i ever assist you? There's no need to even talk about saving your life." Su XingHe pondered for a while and said: "Maybe you did it unintentionally, nobody knows. To cut the long story short, you place your palm behind my back, the divine internal energy of our sect transmit into me and turn defeat into victory." Xu Zhu said: "Oh, so it is. Then its your Master who saved you, i didn't save you." Su XingHe said: "I say Master borrowed your hand and save me, you should at least admit this much?" Xu Zhu can't refute anymore, he nod his head and said: "This is just a simple favour, since you insist then i will just admit it."

Su XingHe said: "Just now your divine internal energy unexpectedly burst forth and caught Ding ChunQiu off guard and frightened him off. If its a real fight, even if both of us team up together we are still not his match. To kill Ding ChunQiu, firstly your internal energy must be stronger than him, secondly you must be proficient in the high-level martial arts of our sect such as [Six Solar Palms Of Heavenly Mountain], [Plum Breaking Hand Of Heavenly Mountain], etc, the martial arts combined with the internal energy will give rise to enormous power. I got distracted by numerous miscellaneous skills, i did not concentrate on learning martial arts, thus my martial arts cannot be compared against Ding ChunQiu, if not, Master only need to pass on his internal energy into my body and i can simply punish that traitor. Moreover, i have a martial aunt, her internal energy and martial arts are equally formidable, but i don't know what happen to her, unexpectedly she was hoodwinked by Ding ChunQiu and they join hands to attack my Master. This martial aunt is fond of handsome young man, previously Ding ChunQiu was an elegant young man and he manage to gain the love of this martial aunt. Some of Ding ChunQiu martial arts, like [Minor Formless Skill], was taught by this martial aunt. If we go and trouble Ding ChunQiu, this martial aunt will assist him and it will be difficult to get rid of him. For the past 30 years, Master and i thought of numerous methods but we simply can't find a suitable person to inherit Master's martial arts. Master health deteriorated with each passing day, this disciple is even more difficult to find, not only must he have extremely high comprehension, he must also be a handsome youngster, natural and unrestrained......"

Xu Zhu said: "Junior monk is ugly, i am definitely not qualified to be the last disciple of your revered master. Old senior, please go find a handsome, natural and unstrained youngster, i will pass on your revered master's divine internal energy to him."

Su XingHe was startled, he said: "The divine internal energy of our sect is interlinked with heart, arteries, qi and blood, if the energy is intact the person is intact, if the energy disappears the person will die. When Master transferred his divine internal energy into you he died soon after, don't tell me you didn't see it?"

Xu Zhu stamped his feet repeatedly and said: "What should i do? I really mess up the big plan of senior and your revered master."

Su XingHe said: "Martial brother, this is the burden you carry. Master arranged this chess formation, its purpose is to test the comprehension of a person. This 'Zhen Long' is simply too difficult, i painstakingly research it for over 10 years but i never manage to break it, only you martial brother manage to break it, your 'comprehension is extremely high', this phrase is really fitting."

Xu Zhu laugh bitterly and said: "Its not fitting. I did not break this 'Zhen Long'." Thereafter he narrated how his martial grandfather XuanNan transmitted his voice into him and secretly guided him.

Su XingHe is skeptical and said: "I looked at the expression of XuanNan, he already fell under the evil hands of Ding ChunQiu, his internal energy had long be sealed, its not likely that he can use the [Transmitting Voice in Secret] technique." Su XingHe pause and pondered again, he said: "But Shaolin is the number one orthodox school of martial arts, maybe XuanNan is deliberately trying to make things complicated, i am only a frog at the bottom of the well, its not possible for me to see through his exact thoughts. Martial brother, i send my people to dispatch invitation cards everywhere, i invited all the top experts under the heaven to come and break this 'Zhen Long', for all those who love playing chess, once they know there is such a chess meet they will definitely come. But for those who are too old, appearance.......this.....appearance not too handsome, or they are not part of the martial arts fraternity, then they are not invited. Young gentleman Gusu Murong's appearance is fine as jade, he has vast knowledge of martial arts techniques under the heaven, his the most ideal candidate, unfortunately he can't break the chess formation."