Book 8 Chapter 9 - Moon in the Well Champion
With smile on his face Kou Zhong entered the mail hall, he was met by Yun Yuzhen and Xiang Yushan's expectant glance, but he noticed that Xu Ziling was standing by the window, with neither concern nor delight on his face. Kou Zhong asked in amazement, "Xiao Ling, don't you want to know who the mole is?”
Xu Ziling replied indifferently, "How could such a tender young child be your, Zhong Shao's opponent? Unless she basically does not know anything.”
Unable to hold back, Xiang Yushan asked, "What's the outcome?”
Kou Zhong sat down opposite the two people, "It's one of your personal guards,” he said, "I think his name is Ouyang Ji or something. You know what to do!”
A strong murderous intent flared in Xiang Yushan's eyes; without saying a word he stood up and left.
Kou Zhong winked at Yun Yuzhen and said, "Would Beautiful Shifu be interested in a trip out of town with us, two brothers? I promised to escort that poor girl out of the city!”
The next several days, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling devoted their heart and mind to push Duan Yucheng, four men to train martial art. The four, on the other hand, also realized that this matter concerned their honor and disgrace, their life and death, plus they obtained these two highly talented brilliant masters' direction, therefore, they strived and hence advanced by leaps and bounds.
The rest of the time, the two boys abandoned everything to go with Susu on scenic tours, doing their best to make her happy.
Time flew. The next day they were going to start their journey north. Xiao Xian hosted a banquet to give them a farewell dinner.
There was an additional guest at the dinner that night: Big Sister Xiao, Xiao Huan, who had just returned from Lingnan. Xiao Xian's Left-field Marshal Zhang Xiu was unable to attend because just that morning he set out leading his army into battle.
As usual, the ten-thousand-kind flirtatious Big Sister Xiao was continuously throwing the two boys flirtatious glances and raining them with sweet talks [orig. ‘confusing soup'].
After saluting them with a round of drink, Xiao Xian said, "Turned out the person who mounted sneak attack on Ziling to give Pei Yan the opportunity to escape was Bai Wenyuan, a newly rising martial art master of Jingjian Zong [lit. clean/net sword school], who is also Zhu Mei's current lover [orig. handsome male companion, i.e. gigolo]. He is quite famous in Sichuan region, it could be that he is infatuated by Zhu Mei's beauty that he came to take refuge in Zhu Can.”
Kou Zhong blurted out laughing; he said, "Current lover. The term Xiao Dangjia used is definitely top-notch; it clearly showed that Zhu Mei used to have numerous lovers [here the term is ‘adventurous head', also in subsequent paragraphs]. Ha!”
Big Sister Xiao glowered at him and said, "Being Zhu Mei's lover is not a good thing, because she is paranoid and jealous; if she suspected her lover was having affair with different women, she would not hesitate to kill him to vent her anger. That's the reason Jianghu people call her ‘Poisonous Spider'. Obviously Bai Wenyuan dislike having long life that he attaches himself to her.”
Xiang Yushan laughed and said, "That kind of heavily-made-up person, how could two Dage have any regards for him? But Zhu Mei is indeed highly capable; rumor has it that she has mastered 90% of Zhu Can's skill. That night she did not fight back, simply because she was intimidated by two Dage's fame for fighting prowess after you killed Ren Shaoming, plus she was unclear of the situation, hence she could only flee.”
Susu said anxiously, "Since she is a narrow-minded person, certainly she would not want to let this matter rests; you two must be absolutely careful.”
Yun Yuzhen said with a laugh, "Su Jie please set your heart at ease. Talking about wisdom and strategy, Xiao Zhong, Xiao Ling, are definitely not inferior to anybody. Su Jie just think, ever since their debut, the ones suffering losses were other people, when did they ever any suffer defeat?”
Big Sister Xiao laughed like a fluttering stem of flower; she said, "Since Yun Bangzhu is able to say such thing, surely you have suffered losses in the hands of these two boys!”
Yun Yuzhen's pretty face blushed like red clouds; casting a flirtatious glance toward the two boys, she said, "Dajie has never tasted any losses from them!”
Seeing she blatantly flirted with the two boys during the banquet, Susu was displeased, her jet-black eyebrows were knitted.
Xiao Xian also felt rather uncomfortable with his younger sister's licentious behavior; changing the topic, he said, "There is one thing that even now I still don't understand: how did two Xiaodi find out that Zhu Mei and Shen Faxing were hiding in ambush outside the city? They are all old hands in Jianghu; they even managed to keep our people in the dark.”
Naturally Kou Zhong would not divulge the fact that Xu Ziling possessed a supernatural intuition; inventing crazy nonsense, he said, "That was a pure speculation. Funny thing is that at first we did not know it was them; we were looking for Evil Monk and Amorous Nun, but found them by mistake. Just consider it their bad luck, ha!”
Xiang Yushan smiled and said, "This Kou Dage of mine often downplays their achievements, but always speaks cheerfully and wittily, so that with him around, the atmosphere is always full of joy.”
Big Sister Xiao could not help asking in bewilderment, "Why is it that talking to the left General Xiang calls Kou Dage, talking to the left you calls Xu Dage? In term of age, you are older, in term of relationship, you are their jiefu [older sister's husband]. And Su Jie, why didn't you correct him?”
Susu happily said, "My two Didi are not ordinary people, naturally Yushan wants to show his respect!”
Yun Yuzhen also smiled and said, "Therefore, I also feel that Yushan did not use incorrect appellation.”
Xiao Xian chuckled, "Well said,” he said, "Two Xiaodi are indeed not ordinary people that I, Xiao Xian, seldom encounter in my life; people who, opening up their palm they create clouds, turning down their palm they create rain, who, leisurely and casually, turned the entire situation of the South upside-down, who also caused our Great Liang kingdom's power and influence to flourish greatly. Although you have not officially joined my army, I, Xiao Xian, already consider you one of my own.”
And then, clapping his hands he called out, "People!”
While everybody else was stunned, two beautiful maids carrying exquisitely embroidered cases, one long one short, appeared in front of the banquet table.
Xiao Xian signaled with his hand, the two maids separately presented the long case to Kou Zhong, and the short one to Xu Ziling.
After the maids withdrew, Xiao Xian cheerfully said, "Small gifts, not worth showing my respect. Gentlemen, please open the cases and take a look what's inside.”
Kou Zhong opened his embroidered case. To his astonishment, it was a steel saber. At first glance it seemed to be an ordinary saber, nothing special about it. But after careful look, whether it was the saber itself or the scabbard, although there was neither ornate decoration nor any other embellishment, there was some kind of ancient, simple yet elegant taste on it, so that nobody dared to despise it.
Watching Kou Zhong taking the saber out of the case, Xiao Xian's eyes emitted some kind of unfathomable gleam as he spoke softly, "This saber has no name, but it is said that it is a divine weapon from the ancient times, the steel quality is marvelous, the blade can emit faint yellow glow. Two hundred years ago it fell into the hands of the number one saber expert of the time, the ‘Saber Overlord' Ling Shangren [term of respect to address Taoist Master]. Afterwards Ling Shangren retired from Jianghu, this saber also disappeared. Later on, after some twists and turns, it fell into my hands. Although I do not like to use saber, I do have special fondness toward it. Hence I have the intention to present it to Kou Xiaodi, to show my, Xiao Xian's sincerity and gratefulness.”
‘Ring!'
Kou Zhong pulled the saber off its scabbard.
Everybody focused their attention to look, but all was disappointed.
The saber blade was dull without any luster; where was the yellow glow Xiao Xian was talking about?
But suddenly the blade changed; although it was barely noticeable, there was no doubt a genuine soft yellow glow around it.
Xiao Xian laughed aloud and said, "Xiao Xiongdi is indeed the true owner of this saber; your true qi is able to incite this treasured saber's reaction. I have played with this saber thousands of times, but the blade has never displayed the yellow glow.”
And thus everybody understood that in the past, when Ling Shangren was using the saber, his true qi must have brought out the strong yellow glow of the blade, but if anybody else picked up the saber, it was no more than an ordinary iron. They all could not help clicking their tongue in wonder.
Kou Zhong knew very well that Xiao Xian was trying to win him over, but still, he was quite delighted and said gratefully, "From now on, this saber will be called Moon in the Well. This kid bows to Xiao Dangjia for bestowing this gift.”
Astonished, Xiao Xian asked, "The name Moon in the Well has a heavy Zen flavor in it; what's the story behind it?”
Kou Zhong replied perfunctorily, "I just saw a marvel in the well one night; nothing special about it.”
Xiao Xian suddenly sighed and said, "In the past, my ancestor, Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan, loved to collect divine weapons. This saber cost him ten years of mental and physical efforts, he sent people on open enquiries and secret search, and went to the end of the world, before he had the destiny to obtain it. Afterwards the enemy troops broke the city defense, but because this treasure was hidden deep in underground storehouse, it was preserved.”
Only then did everybody understand why he was having a reluctant-to-part expression on his face.
Curious, Susu said, "Xiao Ling, why don't you see what kind of treasure Xiao Dangjia is giving you?”
Xu Ziling picked the case and presented it back to Xiao Xian; he smiled and said, "I appreciate Xiao Dangjia's good intention, whatever it is inside the case must be a rare treasure of the world, but I am a kind of person who don't like to be concerned about worldly possession, and I do not wish to know what unfathomable mystery inside the box. I am asking for Xiao Dangjia's forgiveness.”
Other than Kou Zhong, everybody else was surprised by Xu Ziling's refusal. However, instead of being astonished, Xiao Xian simply sighed and said, "Xu Xiongdi is independent and loves to travel alone, someday you will certainly become an exceptional and peculiar character. Not only Laofu [old man, referring to self] does not have the slightest displeasure, my heart is full of admiration instead.”
Everybody present was quite moved by Xiao Xian's poise.
Wanting to steer the conversation away from the Moon in the Well, Kou Zhong changed the subject, "I wonder if Xiao Dangjia's meeting with Miss Song the other day went well?”
Xiao Xian nodded and said, "Arrangements are being made for me to meet with the ‘Heavenly Saber' Song Que, I have always had high esteem toward him, Senior. If we can bring this matter to fruition, two Xiao Xiongdi's merit is great.”