Chapter 15 - Letter from a Lover
Chu Liuxiang crouched behind the roof ridge of the building across the street. He saw Bai Yumo pushed the door and walked in. The house had lanterns inside, but the windows were closed, so that although he saw shadows going back and forth, he could not see what was going on inside.
All around the house were hidden sentries; although he could not see anybody, occasionally he caught the flickers of their blade, as well as heard faint whispers.
Light as a smoke, Chu Liuxiang unleashed his qinggong and circled around the house toward the rear of the building. Suddenly he let out a light cough. Sure enough, from the darkness someone immediately spoke in low voice, "Go up to heaven or go down to Hades."
Chu Liuxiang responded, "Beggars are not going to go."
The man appeared from the shadow. Seeing Chu Liuxiang, he was startled, "Who are you?" he blurted out.
"Asking for rice," Chu Liuxiang replied. [Translator's note: a bit of explanation is in order here. The word for 'beggars' here is 'yao fan' (begging for food or money), which literally means 'asking for (cooked) rice'. Chu Liuxiang responded by saying 'asking for (grain) rice'.]
As soon as he spoke those three words, with his right hand he jabbed the man's acupoint, while with his left hand he caught him and put him gently on the roof. "I am not a human," he spoke softly, "I am a fox fairy. Do you understand?"
The man's eyes were full of horror. He wanted to nod, but his head could not move.
Light as a smoke, Chu Liuxiang floated down the eaves, found a window with light coming from inside, and then peeked inside from a crack on the window.
He saw two rows of red sandalwood chairs arranged in the main hall, on each side sat two gray-haired old beggars with a thick stack of pouches on their backs; presumably there were nine pouches in the stack.
These were the Elders and Protector of the Law within the Beggar Clan.
Bai Yumo also crashed onto one of the seats of honor. Above them was the astute, valiant, clear-headed, new Gang Leader of the Beggar Clan, Nangong Ling.
Surprisingly, the youngster in black was also sitting inside, opposite to Nangong Ling.
This many martial art masters were surrounding him, yet he did not show the least bit of fear. His big eyes were staring at Nangong Ling, as if he might stand up and fight any moment.
Nangong Ling spoke heavily, "Sire injured our Gang's disciples, as well as Zhanglao and Hufa [elder and protector of the law], perhaps it was due to misunderstanding, this officer does not wish to investigate, but just want to ask: why did Sire come here?"
Staring at him, the youngster in black coldly said, "I don't know how many times you have asked me that question; if I was willing to answer, do you think I'd wait until now?"
Nangong Ling still did not get angry; he said, "What do you want from our Gang? If you are willing to speak out, perhaps this officer could give it to you on behalf of our disciples."
The youngster in black replied, "I want your head; can you give it to me?"
Finally Nangong Ling spoke sternly, "Sire must not forget, at this very moment, I can take your life at any time, yet I am only asking you a simple question: what's your purpose of coming here. You are still unwilling to talk, aren't you being too insensitive?"
The youngster in black laughed coldly and said, "At this moment, I can still sit here, precisely because I am being sensitive. If I tell you my background, your objective is achieved, do you think I can still sit here nicely?"
Listening to this point, Chu Liuxiang could not help laughing inwardly, "This young man seems to be stubborn and arrogant, as if he does not understand anything; who would have thought that he is actually smarter than anybody. This time Nangong Ling has met his match."
He saw Nangong Ling's countenance slowly turned green; his anger has flared out. But in the end he struggled hard to suppress it. Revealing a smile, he spoke gently, "If this officer wanted to kill you, why do I need to ask your background? Could it be that you don't understand this fact?"
"Naturally I understand," the youngster in black replied, "In fact, I understand it very well. Since you don't know who I am, you don't know how many people are coming behind me. Moreover, you don't know that I know some of your secrets; in your heart you suspect everyone, how could you kill me without any worry?"
Nangong Ling said, "If that's the case, don't you think that I won't let you go even more?"
Raising his voice, the youngster in black said, "You don't let me go, that's the best. I can seat here, sleep here, I am afraid you, these poor beggars, won't be able to afford to keep me here!"
Bai Yumo suddenly laughed evilly and said, "Treated softly, he doesn't talk, we'd better treat him harshly; will we be afraid he won't talk?"
The youngster in black replied with cold laugh, "If you dare to stretch your finger to touch me, I am afraid several people will die in front of me. If you don't believe me, just give it a try!"
Unexpectedly this youngster in black could be soft and could be hard, he could raise hell and could threaten as well, he could put on an air, and could scare people. Listening from the outside, Chu Liuxiang nearly clapped and cheered for him.
Suddenly there was a loud 'Crash!', the window opposite Chu Liuxiang was smashed open, followed by someone flew inside like an arrow.
This man's sword ray was like lightning. To everybody's surprise, it was the Central Plains' One Red Dot.
Seeing Yitian Hong suddenly made his appearance, Chu Liuxiang was really pleasantly surprised; laughing inwardly, he mused, "Turns out you still follow me; but this time you came at the right time."
He saw Yitian Hong flew into the house, tapped the ground with the tip of his toes, and stabbed the four elders of the Beggar Clan plus Bai Yumo seventeen, eighteen times in rapid succession.
Although all these men were first-class Wulin's martial art masters, but since they were caught off-guard, facing this kind of fast, vicious, and strange sword technique, they could not help being flustered.
Nangong Ling angrily said, "Yitian Hong, I respected you as a famous hero, how dare you being so rude in our Gang's Fragrance Hall."
Yitian Hong laughed coldly and said, "I usually don't recognize my own family, haven't you heard?"
He rushed toward the youngster in black's side and spoke heavily, "You haven't left?"
Who would have thought that the youngster in black simply stared at him and said, "Why should I go with you?"
Yitian Hong was stumped; finally he responded coldly, "You don't go, I will uncover your background."
This time the youngster in black was stumped. Finally he said with a cold laugh, "All right, let's just consider you win. Let's go!"
However, by this time, an adaptable claw, a judge pen, a green bamboo staff, a pair of iron crutches, and so on, seven or eight kinds of weapon, were already coming to greet their bodies.
In this main hall, not a single one was not a martial art master among martial art masters, each weapon carried profound move and ferocious power, sinister yet experienced. The youngster in black took out a weapon from his bosom, which he shook straight out against the wind. Unexpectedly it was a Burmish saber with white hilt, made of hundred-refined steel. 'Shua! Shua! Shua!' he repeatedly hacked several times. The saber technique was bold and vigorous, the blade created fierce wind, the movement was yang in nature, hard and forceful all the way.
These two men, one using saber the other using sword, fought side by side, what could they possibly be afraid of? However, if they wanted to rush out, perhaps it would be more difficult than difficult, as difficult as ascending the heavens.
Yitian Hong stabbed his sword more than a dozen times, and then suddenly called out, "If you don't make your move, I am going to call your name."
Naturally others did not know whom he was talking to, while Chu Liuxiang outside the window could not help smiling bitterly and mused, "This kid finally wants to drag me down the water."
He thought for a moment, and then picked up a dozen or more roof tiles from the roof ridge, opened the window, and threw them in, while shouted loudly, "Watch my Five-Poison copper cymbals."
Although these more than a dozen pieces of tiles were ordinary roof tiles, thrown from his hands, they became unordinary. Some struck down straight from high up in the air, some whizzed in a spiral, dancing in the air.
The people inside could not immediately see what kind of secret projectiles being thrown at them, but suddenly hearing the two words, 'Five Poisons', they withdrew one after another, no one had the time to think about attacking the enemy.
Yitian Hong and the youngster in black seized this opportunity to dash out.
Nangong Ling darted to the window. Staying close to the wall, he looked outside, but it was dark; he could not see clearly who had released the secret projectiles. Picking up a chair, he threw it outside the window, while he followed closely behind, and shouted, "Friend, slow down!"
But how could Chu Liuxiang be willing to slow down? He had long gone without a trace.
Yitian Hong and the youngster in black flew out the window and ran side by side for a while. The two's qinggong was equally matched. After running far away, the youngster in black suddenly stopped. Glowering, he said, "Who told you to rescue me?"
With his ungrateful-even-to-the-death temper, if it were someone else, after taking the risk to pluck him from danger and then hearing these words, it would be strange indeed if he did not get angry to the death.
But Yitian Hong was not angry at all. Letting out an eerie laughter, he said, "Who rescued you? I don't give a damn whether you live or die."
The youngster in black stared at him with his big eyes. Puzzled, he said, "You did not rescue me, then why did you come there?"
Yitian Hong replied, "I broke someone's thing, I want to take you to compensate for that."
The youngster in black was stunned; he angrily said, "What kind of fart are you talking about? I don't understand."
He heard someone laughed and said, "You don't understand, but I do."
This languid laugh, this ghostly shenfa, in all the world, other than our 'Bandit Chief' Chu Liuxiang, would there be a second person?
If Chu Liuxiang wanted to fix his attention on someone, nobody in the world would be able to shake him off. When Yitian Hong saw him, he was not surprised the slightest bit. "Here's your letter, I pay it back to you," he spoke coldly.
By the time the last word came out of his mouth, he was already far away.