Chapter 1 - An openhearted young man wearing a green shirt is wandering through dangerous mountains

A Sword of steel, glinting blue, was thrust out towards the left shoulder of the middle-aged, burly man. The attacking, much younger man however did not go through with the move but tilted the sword sideways with a sudden move of his wrist and directed it in an upward-slanting motion against the right side of his opponent´s throat, where it would cut the jugular vein. The middle-aged man immediately brought up his own sword to parry the thrust. "Tsennng!" The two blades met and started to vibrate with a metallic sound.

The humming had not yet died down when the swords began flashing again and the fighters exchanged another three moves. Suddenly the older man´s sword came down directly from above on his opponents head. The younger man stepped quickly to the right to dodge the blow, balanced the weight of his weapon with outstretched left hand and immediately stabbed with his sword towards the older man´s thigh.

Both men were moving extremely quickly and fighting with full strength.

On the east side of the fencing hall there sat two people. On the place of honour to the left sat a Taoist nun, about 40 years old, with tightly pinched lips and a face that was so tense that it had a positively greenish tint. The person sitting on her right side was an old man of over 50 years who stroked his long beard with his right hand and exuded an aura of deep contentment. Their chairs were placed about three meters apart and behind each stood more than twenty male and female students. On chairs arranged along the western wall sat about ten guests.

Everyone´s attention was focused on the two men fighting on the fencing floor.

In the meantime the match had gone on for more than seventy exchanges, the moves were getting faster and faster, but no winner had emerged yet. Suddenly the older fighter swung his sword out in a powerful movement. This seemed to make him lose his balance, he started to teeter and it looked like he was about to fall. At this a young man wearing a green shirt who was sitting among the guests on the west side of the hall couldn't help but let out a little laugh. He immediately realized, however, that this was very out of place and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

Right at this time the young man on the floor struck out with his left palm, aiming for the back of his opponent. The burly man made a step forward to avoid the blow, suddenly swung his sword back in an arc and shouted, "Got you!" The young man was hit on the left thigh. He staggered a few steps forward and finally caught himself by resting the point of his sword on the ground. Then he straightened up again, as if he wanted to continue fighting.

But the burly man had already sheathed his sword. "Brother Chu," he said with a smile, "thank you for letting me win. Are you badly hurt?"

The younger man´s face had turned white as a sheet. He bit his lips, then replied, "Thank you very much for pulling back, brother Gong."

The old man with the beard had pleasure written all over his face. "The East Faction," he said with a faint smile, "has already won three fights. It looks like we are going to live for another five years in the Sword Lake Palace. Dear colleague Xin, should we really continue with the competition?"

The nun who was sitting to his left could barely control her anger. "Dear colleague Zuo," she said, "you have indeed trained your students very well. But have you made any progress with your research on the Wuliang Jade Cliff during those last five years?"

The bearded man shot her an angry look. "Dear colleague," he said in a stern voice, "have you forgotten the rules of our school?"

The nun just snorted contemptuously and refrained from replying.

The old man was Zuo Zi Mu, the leader of the Wuliang Fencing School´s East Faction. The nun´s surname was Xin, her Taoist name was "Shuang Qing", "double pure". She was the leader of the Wuliang School´s West Faction.

[Translator´s note: In Taoism "double pure" means that not only a person´s visible actions but also his or her inner thoughts are absolutely pure.]

Originally the Wuliang Fencing School was divided in three factions: East, North and West. The North Faction had dwindled into insignificance during the last decades, whereas the East and West Factions had florished. The Wuliang Fencing School was founded in the Wuliang Mountains, in the southwestern part of what is now the province of Yunnan around the year 930, when the Latter Tang of the Five Dynasties Period ruled in Central China; the head of the school used to live in the Sword Lake Palace. Ever since the school had split in three factions around 1040, when the Song emperor Zhao Zhen, who was also known as Renzong, ruled in Central China, they used to hold a contest every five years. The students competed with each other in duels and whichever faction won three out of five fights was then allowed to reside in the Sword Lake Palace for five years, until there was a new contest in the sixth year. During those five years the losing factions naturally studied and trained hard, always hoping that they could take revenge for their defeat. The winners equally did not dare to neglect their training in the least. Forty years ago the North Faction had once won victory and gone to live in the Sword Lake Palace, but five years later they lost the competition and had to move out again. In a fit of rage the head of that faction moved his students to the west side of the mountain range, never to take part in the matches again and losing all contact with the other two factions. In the 35 years since then the East and West Factions both sometimes won and sometimes lost. Four times the East Faction had won, twice the West Faction. That fight between Gong and Chu was the fourth match of this year´s competition. Gong´s victory was the third one for the East Faction out of four matches, which made a fifth match unnecessary.

The men sitting on the fine chairs on the west side of the hall were representatives from other schools. Some of them were jointly invited by the leaders of the East and West Faction to be arbitrators, the others were guests who had come to watch the fights as spectators. All hese men were widely known as martial artists in the country south of the Yun ridge, the only exception being the young man in green on the lowest seat all the way to the right, of whom no one had ever heard before. And it was just that young man who had let out that laugh when Gong had pretended to have stumbled.

This young man had come together with Ma Wu De, an old fencing master and wealthy tea merchant from Pu-Er, at the southern end of the uliang range. Ma Wu De was a powerful and wealthy man, he loved company and got along with most everyone. Actually he had a lot of the legendary Lord Mengchang: whenever martial artists who had fallen on hard times came to him, he always received them warmheartedly and did everything he could to help them. Hence he was well liked and generally respected, although his own martial skills were only average. [Translator´s note: The Lord of Mengchang lived ca. 300-250 B.C., during the Warring States Period, in the state of Qi (now Shandong). He used to keep on numerous martial artists as retainers, which paid off when he once fell into the hands of king Zhaoxiang of Qin and was saved by two of his ouseguests. For further details see William H. Nienhauser (ed.), The Grand Scribe´s Records, Volume VII (Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994), chapter 75.]

Zuo Zi Mu vaguely remembered that Ma Wu De had introduced that young man as "Mr. Duan". The kings of Dali came from the Duan clan, but there were tens of thousands of other people who bore the same surname and had absolutly nothing to do with the royal family. Therefore Zuo Zi Mu hadn´t really paid much attention and just assumed that this would be a disciple of Ma Wu De; since Ma Wu De himself was only a second-rate fighter, his disciple would hardly be someone to be reckoned with. So Zuo had not even bothered with the standard phrase "I have long admired you" but just cupped his fist and led them to their seats. No one would have expected that this young man would be so brazen as to laugh mockingly at the way Zuo Zi Mu´s favourite student had used a feint to lure his opponent into defeat.

After he had thus meditated on the lack of respect for their elders in today´s youth Zuo Zi Mu said with a smile, "The four students colleague Xin has sent into the contest this year have all attained a very high level in the art of fencing. Especially in that fourth match we have only won through a lucky accident. Chu is still very young; someone with such skill at such an early age really has an unlimited future ahead of him. I am afraid that in five years´ time we of the East Faction will have to swap places with the West Faction! Ha ha ha!"

Having laughed long and heartily he suddenly turned his eyes on the young man.

"It seems," he said, "that Mr. Duan is not very impressed by the way my unworthy student has just used the feint known as `Stumbling Step´ to gain victory. Would Mr. Duan care to come onto the fencing floor and show my student how it should be done? Mr. Ma is known and feared throughout the whole south of the kingdom, and since a strong master surely does not turn out weak disciples, Mr. Duan certainly knows a lot of excellent tricks."

At that ironic comment Ma Wu De slightly blushed.

"Mr. Duan," he said hastily, "is not my disciple. I am an old man and about as nimble as a three-legged cat, how could I possibly be anyone´s master? Please don´t make fun of me, Mr. Zuo. This young man came to Pu-Er and visited me in my humble home. When he heard that I was going to travel north into the Wuliang Mountains, he just came along. He said that he had long heard of the scenic beauty of this majestic mountain range and wanted to see and experience it for himself."

"If he would be your disciple," Zuo Zi Mu thought at that, "then out of respect for you I couldn´t go too hard on him. But since he is just an outside guest, there is no need to be polite. Someone actually dares to laugh at the East Faction´s fencing art; if I do not teach him a lesson that he stumbles down the mountain with an ashen face, where would my reputation go?"

Zuo laughed coldly. "Mr. Duan," he asked with a sneer, "could I ask how we should address you? At which school have you studied martial arts? Who is your venerable master?"

The young man smiled a little. "My given name is Yu," he replied, "and I have never studied martial arts. Each time I see someone falling down, no matter whether he really fell or just used a feint, I always have to laugh."

Zuo Zi Mu could tell from his words that the young man didn´t have the least respect for him and got seriously angry. "What is so funny about someone falling?" he asked.

Duan Yu lightly fanned himself with the folding fan he held in his hand. "When a person is standing or sitting," he said casually, "there is indeed nothing to laugh about. Lying in bed, no humour there at all either. But when someone is lying on the ground, haha, that is very funny. Unless, of course, when he is a three year old baby. Then we´ll make an exception."

The more he talked, the less respectful he seemed to become and Zuo Zi Mu could barely contain his anger.

"Mr. Ma," he turned to the old tea merchant, "is this Mr. Duan a friend of yours?"

In truth, Ma Wu De had just met Duan Yu a few days ago and didn´t know a thing about the young man´s background. He was a friendly man by nature, however, and when Duan Yu had asked to travel together with him to the Wuliang Mountains he had felt too embarassed to refuse. So he just brought him along. Now he saw that Zuo Zi Mu´s voice was full of anger and he realized that the old fencing master would very soon resort to physical violence.

"The young man seems like a nice chap," he thought, "no point in getting him hurt."

Therefore he said, "Although Mr. Duan and I are only casual acquaintances, we still came here together. To me Mr. Duan looks like a very refined and gentle man and does not seem to know the least bit of martial arts; his little laugh a moment ago must have escaped him involuntarily and he certainly didn´t mean any disrespect. Here my suggestion: I am kind of hungry right now; you, Mr. Zuo have dinner served and the two of us then toast you three cups of wine each as an apology. Today is such a good day for you, Mr. Zuo, why do you have to fuss with such an inexperienced young man?"

Zuo Zi Mu ignored that remark. "Since Mr. Duan is not a friend of you, Mr. Ma, then if I get in conflict with him, it doesn´t have anything to do with you. Guangjie, this gentleman was just laughing at you; why don´t you go and ask him for some advice."

Gong Guang Jie , the middle-aged man who had just won the fight, had already been eagerly waiting for his master to say that sentence. He drew his sword and stepped into the middle of the fencing floor. Then he flipped the weapon over, so that the blade pointed down, grasped the handle with cupped hands and slightly bowed to Duan Yu.

"Mr. Duan, please!"

Duan Yu did not understand that this was a formal challenge and calmly remained seated.

"Very good!" he said, "You go on and practice, I will watch."

At this, Gong Guang Jie ´s face turned purple. "You ... what did you say?"

"You got a sword in your hand, are swinging it this way and swinging it that way, so I assume you want to practise fencing. Feel free to go ahead. I never really liked to see people handle swords and sabres, but since I am already here and you are not really fighting I guess I might as well watch for a bit."

Gong Guang Jie couldn´t believe what he was hearing.

"You little brat!" he screamed, "My master is telling you to come onto the floor and fight it out with me!"

Duan Yu lightly waved the fan in his hand and shook his head.

"Your master is your master," he said, "but your master is not my master. Your master can command you, but your master can not command me. Your master told you to fight, but you already have fought. Your master might say that I should fight with you, but firstly I don´t know how to fight, secondly I am afraid of losing, thirdly I fear pain and fourthly I fear death. So, no fighting. And if I say I don´t fight, then I don´t fight."

This whole speech, full of "your master" and "my master" came out like a well-practised tongue-twister. Many of the people in the hall could not help but laugh out loudly. Especially the female students of Xin Shuangqing - the West Faction consisted of about one half women - were giggling in a most lovely way. The serious atmosphere that had so engulfed the fencing hall just a moment ago was gone in a flash.

Gong Guang Jie stomped up to Duan Yu and pointd his sword at the young man´s chest.

"Do you really not know how to fight," he shouted, "or are you just pretending to be so stupid?"

Duan Yu saw that the point of the sword was only a few inches away from his chest, only a small push was needed and it would penetrate his heart. But his face still didn´t show the least sign of fear.

"Of course I really don´t know how to fight," he said calmly, "Why would I pretend?"

"You come here into the Wuliang Mountains, into the Sword Lake Palace, and behave in an extremely provocative way. Are you tired of living? Who is your master? Who has sent you? If you don´t tell me the truth right now, don´t blame uncle Gong if he does hurt you!"

"Hey, big uncle, why are you being so ferocious? I really don´t like it when people are fighting. Your venerable school is called `Wuliang fencing school´, `the school of immesurable fencing´, you are living right in the middle of the `Immesurable Mountains´. In the Buddhist scriptures it is written: `There are four things which are immesurable: firstly, kindness; secondly, compassion; thirdly, happiness; fourthly, renunciation.´ And I think we all know what that means: a joyous heart leads to kindness, eliminating bitterness from your heart leads to compassion, when all beings leave bitterness behind and reach a state of joy this is called happiness, giving up all thoughts of enmity and affection towards all beings and treating them all in the same dispassionate way is called renunciation. Immesurable is the eternal Buddha, the Buddha of Immesurable Splendour, the Amitabha Buddha ..."

At this religious rant Gong Guang Jie gave up. He pulled back his sword, suddenly swung his left arm and landed a solid slap on Duan Yu´s face. Duan Yu tried to tilt his head to avoid the strike, but by the time he reacted Gong had already hit him. The fighter pulled back his hand and on Duan Yu´s face one could clarly see five red fingerprints.

This caught everyone by surprise. Seeing Duan Yu´s relaxed attitude and the way he talked nonsense and poked fun at the Wuliang people, they had all assumed that he must be someone with spectacular skills. Who would have thought that he couldn´t even dodge that casual slap from Gong Guang Jie ? It seemed that he really didn´t know any martial arts. A master deliberately pretending to be stupid, playing with his opponents to irritate them and amuse himself was a very common occurence, but this was the first time that anybody had seen someone who really didn´t know the least bit about fighting do so. Even Gong Guang Jie was surprised that he had hit the young man with his first blow. He stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then he grabbed Duan Yu at the chest and lifted him up.

"And here I was thinking what kind of an extraordinary person you must be! But in reality you are nothing but a bag of pus!"

Then he threw Duan Yu heavily down to the floor. The young man rolled along several meters, his head hit the leg of a table with a loud bang and only then did he come to a stop.

Ma Wu De did not have the heart to watch this. He rushed over and helped Duan Yu up, all the while saying, "You really don´t know any martial arts! Then why did you have to come here and cause trouble?"

Duan Yu rubbed the side of his forehead.

"I only came here to see the mountains and admire the landscape. Who would know that they are fighting here with swords? This kind of you hit me and I kill you, what´s so interesting about that? A monkey show would be better! Goodbye, Mr. Ma, goodbye! I am leaving!"

At that a young student who had been standing near Zuo Zi Mu jumped forward and blocked Duan Yu´s way.

"You don´t know any martial arts," he said, "and are running away with your tail between your legs; that would still be OK. But why did you say that our contest is no better than a monkey show? That is really going too far! I now give you two choices: either you come onto the fencing floor and I show you a little of our fencing technique which is `no better than a monkey show´; or you can go and kowtow eight times to my master and then say `What a fart!´ three times."

Duan Yu laughed. "What, you farted? It doesn´t really stink that much!"

The young student did not take well to that comment and threw a ferocious punch straight at Duan Yu´s face; if that punch would hit, he would definitely give him a black eye. But the student´s fist had just gone through half of its trajectory when suddenly something fell down through the air and wrapped itself around his wrist. This object felt cold and slippery to the touch and as soon as it had wrapped itself ompletely around it commenced to wriggle and squirm. Startled, the young man hastily pulled back his arm, and when he looked down he saw that the thing wrapped around his wrist was a red silk-adder, more than a foot long, with a light yellow body and fearsome dark-green and red markings. The young student let out a horrible scream and violently swung his arm, trying to shake the snake off. But the animal stayed firmly wrapped around his wrist and no matter what he tried, he just couldn´t dislodge it. [Translator´s note: The red silk-adder (Tropidonotus tigrinus), which can grow up to a length of three feet, has impressive markings, shows aggressive behaviour and devours major amounts of frogs and other small animals, but it has no poison glands and is absolutely harmless for human beings. Protect your garden-snakes!]

Suddenly Gong Guang Jie also screamed, "A snake! A snake!"

The expression on his face drastically changed. He stuck his hand in his collar, reaching and grabbing for something in his vest. But he couldn´t get to it, so in panic he started to pull off his shirt.

These two incidents were completely unexpected. The people in the hall were just between shock and bewilderment when they suddenly heard a laugh coming from above their heads. Everybody looked up and saw a young girl sitting on a roof beam, with snakes in both hands.

That girl was about fourteen or fifteen years old, she wore a green shirt and had most lovely dimples on her cheeks. In her hands she held more than ten snakes, each about a foot long. These little snakes were either plain green or brightly patterned and from their triangular heads everybody could tell that they were all highly poisonous. But the girl did not seem to mind at all, she handled them as if they were toys. The people in the hall had only glanced at her for a moment, when Gong Guang Jie and his fellow student started their terrified screaming again and everyone turned their eyes back on them.

Only Duan Yu kept on looking up to the girl, whose feet were swinging back and forth, as if she found sitting there on the rafter very amusing.

"Miss," he asked, "was it you who saved me?"

"That bad man hit you," the girl answered, "why didn´t you strike back?"

Duan Yu shook his head. "I don´t know how to strike back ..."

Suddenly there was a collective "Ah!" When Duan Yu lowered his glance he saw that Zuo Zi Mu held a bood-stained sword in his hand, a red silk-adder was lying in two pieces on the ground, obviously cut in half by the old fencing master with a swipe of his sword. Gong Guang Jie by now was half naked and jumping around wildly; a little green viper was crawling around on his back. He tried to grab the snake with his hand and several times it almost looked as if he got it, but at the last moment the reptile always escaped him.

"Guangjie," Zuo Zi Mu shouted, "stand still and don´t move!"

Gong Guang Jie froze. A flash of white, and the snake fell in two pieces on the ground. Zou Zi Mu had struck the viper with such a speed that most of the people present did not realize what had happened until the snake was already dead - and Gong Guang Jie didn´t have the least scratch on his back! Everyone started to cheer loudly.

Only the girl on the rafter did not agree.

"Hey! Hey!" she called down. "You, old man with the beard! What did you kill my two snakes for? Now I will have to get seriously impolite!"

"Which household did you crawl out of?" Zuo Zi Mu replied angrily. "What are you doing here?"

Deep in his heart, however, he was wondering how this girl could have climbed up on the rafter without anybody noticing it. Even conceding that everyone´s attention was focused on the fighters in the middle of the hall, that still should not excuse that a person could climb up unnoticed and hide over the heads of the spectators. If word of this got out, it would seriously damage the reputation of the Wuliang Fencing School. But when Zuo saw the girl´s feet innocently swinging back and forth, her dark green shoes with some delicate yellow flowers embroidered on the sides, when he took in her standard girl´s dress, his suspicions were allayed again and he just called up, "Jump down this instant!"

"From that high?" Duan Yu blurted out. "She´ll get hurt! Go tell someone to bring a ladder!"

When they heard that, some people again had to laugh out. The West Faction´s female students all thought, "This young man makes himself appear like a well educated person, but in reality he is just a fool. This girl got up on the rafter with neither people nor ghosts noticing it, so she obviously is a very good climber. Why would she need a ladder to get down?"

"First you have to compensate me for my snakes," the girl replied in the meantime, "then I´ll get down to talk to you."

"What´s so important about two little snakes?" Zuo Zi Mu answered. "You can go and easily catch two more just anywhere."

He couldn´t help to notice that this girl was playing with poisonous snakes as if they were absolutely harmless pets. This in itself was not too worrying - after all she was very young - but he feared that the girl would have powerful backing, like from a master, father or elder brother. Therefore he tried to be reasonably polite to her.

The girl smiled. "That´s easily said. So why don´t you go and catch two snakes for me?"

At that, Zuo Zi Mu switched the subject.

"Qick, jump down!" he said again. "I won´t come down!"

"If you don´t come down, I will come up and pull you down!"

The girl let out a little laugh. "Come and try then!" she replied. "If you can pull me down, then you really are a good fighter."

Zuo Zi Mu was faction leader of a respected fencing school, and no matter what, in front of so many other martial artists, in front of his students, he couldn´t be seen actually fighting a little girl.

So he turned to Shuangqing, "Dear colleague Xin, could you please send one of your female students up there to get her down?"

"In the West Faction we don´t have anyone who would be such a good climber," Shuangqing replied.

Zuo Zi Mu´s face darkened and he was just about to answer back when the girl suddenly said, "If you don´t compensate me for my snakes, then I will show you a thing or two!"

Reaching into a leather pouch at her left hip she took out a furry thing and tossed it at Gong Guang Jie .

Gong Guang Jie thought at first that this was some strange flying weapon, so he dared not to catch it with his hands and hastily tried to get out of the way. But who would have thought that this furry little thing was alive? With a twist in mid-air it landed squarely on Gong Guang Jie ´s back. Only now it could be seen clearly what the thing was - a gray couloured little marten! This marten, a weasel-like predator that likes to climb trees and rob nests, was extremely quick, it was scurrying all over Gong Guang Jie ´s back, chest, face and neck as if it was on flat ground. Gong Guang Jie tried to grab the little creature with both hands, but no matter how fast he reacted, the little marten was ten times faster than him. Gong Guang Jie was wildly waving his hands, grabbing and beating at his back, his chest and his face, but the little marten was completely unimpressed and kept on shooting up and down his body.

"Wonderful!" Duan Yu said laughing. "Beautiful! This little marten is really interesting."

That little marten was not even one foot long, with red shining eyes and razor-sharp claws on his feet; very soon Gong Guang Jie ´s chest and back were covered in bloody scratch marks.

Suddenly the girl whistled three times in quick succession. A fast movement, and the marten had stormed onto Gong Guang Jie ´s face, swiping with its furry tail back and forth across his eyes. Gong Guang Jie immediately tried to grab the animal, but by the time his hands got there the marten was already behind his neck and Gong almost dug his eyes out.

Now Zuo Zi Mu wanted to put an end to the spectacle. He stepped forward and lifted his sword. At that time the marten had once again scurried on Gong Guang Jie ´s face and Zuo Zi Mu stabbed with his sword at the animal in a rapid movement. But the marten just twisted his body and when the sword arrived he had already escaped to the back of Gong´s neck. Zuo could stop his thrust just in time - the point of the sword already touched the eyelid of his student. Although he had missed the marten, the people present all sighed in admiration: if the sword would have gone only a few milimetres further, Gong Guang Jie would have lost his eye.

Especially Xin Shuangqing thought to herself, "Zuo´s sword skill is indeed extraordinary, much better than mine. Just this `Overcoming Disaster with a Metal Needle´; how could I ever execute such a precise sword thrust?"

Swish! Swoosh! Zuo Zi Mu rapidly stabbed at the marten four times, but although his moves were extremely fast, the marten was always one step faster.

"Bearded old man," the girl called down, "your technique is actually quite good!"

Then she whistled twice, the marten scurried downwards and disappeared. Zuo Zi Mu saw, completely taken aback, how Gong Guang Jie suddenly started grabbing and patting his thighs - the marten had entered a trouser leg from below and was now advancing on his most sensitive parts!

Duan Yu was almost doubled over in laughter. "Today I have really broadened my horizon!" he said, while clapping his hands. "This marten has truly reached the peak of artistic achievement!"

Gong Guang Jie hastily ripped off his trousers, revealing a pair of hairy legs.

"You nasty man!" the girl called down. "You like to bully other people, don´t you? I´ll get you completely naked, then we´ll see if you are ashamed or not!"

She whistled twice more. The marten was really well trained, he immediately scurried up Gong Guang Jie ´s left thigh and proceeded into his underwear. In the fencing hall there were quite a number of female students and there was no way Gong Guang Jie was going to take off his underwear. He was hopping around wildly, slapping his groin and his buttocks, then he let out a scream and ran staggering towards the exit.

Gong Guang Jie was just about to leave the hall when someone suddenly stormed in from the outside and bumped into him with an audible impact. One going out, one coming in, both in a hurry. As a result Gong Guang Jie stumbled a few steps backward whereas the other man fell to the ground, landing on his back.

The young girl on the rafter put her snakes in a little bamboo basket she had put beside her on the beam. Then she reached into her shirt, took out a handful of melon seeds and started eating them; her feet were still swinging back and forth. Suddenly, she took a melon seed and threw it at Duan Yu, hitting him right on the forehead.

"Hey, do you want some melon seeds?" she asked laughing. "Come on up!"

"Without a ladder I can´t come up," Duan Yu answered.

"That´s no problem," the girl replied. She untied a long green silk band she wore as a belt around her waist and dangled it down. "Hold on to the belt and I´ll pull you up."

"I am heavy, you can´t lift me!"

"Just give it a try," the girl replied giggling, "it won´t kill you."

Duan Yu raised his arms and grabbed the silk band that was now hanging in front of his face.

"Hold on tight!" The girl called down.

She slightly pulled on the band and Duan Yu´s feet were off the floor. Then the girl hoisted him up hand over hand until after a few seconds he had reached the rafter.

When he had seated himself, Duan Yu said, "Your little marten is really funny, and so well trained too!"

The girl took out the marten from her leather pouch and held it up with both hands for his inspection. Duan Yu saw that the marten had a shining, silky fur and was looking at him with its red flashing eyes, just as cute as can be.

"Can I touch it?" he asked.

"Go right ahead."

Duan Yu stretched out his hand and lightly stroked the back of the animal, feeling the smoothness and warmth of its fur.

Suddenly the marten hissed and scrambled into the leather pouch. Startled, Duan Yu pulled back his hand, lost his balance and almost fell off the rafter. The girl quickly grabbed his collar and pulled him closer to her.

"You really don´t know any martial arts," she said with an incredulous laugh, "this is strange."

"What´s so strange about it?"

"You don´t know any martial arts and still come here all by yourself. You really should have known that you were bound to be bullied by these bad persons. So why did you come?"

Duan Yu was just about to answer when suddenly footsteps could be heard; Gan Guang Hao and Gong Guang Jie came running into the hall.

In the meantime, Gong Guang Jie had put back on his trousers, but he still wasn´t wearing a shirt. With a look of intense fear on their faces both men walked up to Zuo Zi Mu. Gan Guang Hao reported, "Master, the Shen Nong Guild has gathered on the mountain opposite from us. They are holding every path and are saying that no one is allowed to leave the area. We saw that the enemies were very numerous and without pecific orders from you we did not dare to attack them."

"Hm, how many of them were there?"

"About seventy or eighty"

"Seventy or eighty?" said Zuo Zi Mu with a cold laugh. "And they want to exterminate the Wuliang Fencing School? I am afraid that won´t be so easy."

"They have shot an arrow across the valley," Gong Guang Jie said, "with a letter attached to it. The address on the envelope is very impolite." Then he presented the letter.

Zuo Zi Mu glanced at it and saw that on the envelope there was written in big ideograms: "Official Notice to Zuo Zi Mu".

He did not take the letter but ordered his student, "Open it and see what it says."

"Yes, master!" Gong Guang Jie replied. He tore open the envelope and took out the letter.

Up on the rafter the young girl leaned over and whispered in Duan Yu´s ear, "That bad man who hit you is about to die."

"Why?" Duan Yu asked astonished.

The girl whispered, "There is poison on the envelope and the letter itself."

Duan Yu couldn´t quite believe this.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Gong Guang Jie started to read the letter. "The Shen Nong Guild is officially notifying Zuo ... [Author´s note: He did not dare to speak out loud his master´s given name, therefore he omitted the two syllables "Zi" and "Mu".] Listen: We give you two hours time to cut off your right hand, break your sword in half and move out of the Sword Lake Palace. Otherwise we will exterminate everybody in the Wuliang School, up to the last dog and the last chicken."

At that, Xin Shuangqing, the leader of the West Faction, snorted derisively. "Who do those people believe they are?" she said. "They actually dare to threaten us!"

Suddenly Gong Guang Jie fell straight backwards and landed on the floor with a thump.

"Brother!" Gan Guang Hao, standing beside him, yelled.

In an automatic reaction he reached down and wanted to help him up. But Zuo Zi Mu took two steps forward, placed his palm flat on his chest and pushed him back.

"Don´t touch him!" he shouted. "There might be poison!"

When he took a closer look, Gan Guang Hao saw that his fellow student´s face twitched incessantly, the hand in which he was holding the letter had turned a deep black. Then Gong´s feet twitched a few times, and he was dead.

In just the time it takes to eat a meal, the Wuliang Fencing School´s East faction had lost two of their best fighters. Everyone present was deeply shocked.

"Are you also a member of the Shen Nong Guild?" Duan Yu asked the girl in a whisper.

"Pah!" she angrily retorted. "Of course not! Why do you talk such nonsense?"

"Then how did you know that there was poison on the letter?"

"Poisoning people in such a way is a very coarse and unsophisticated method, you can spot it from a mile away. With such clumsy tricks you can only get at ignorant fools."

Everyone in the hall had heard her last comment. They all looked up and saw how she was still sitting there, eating her melon seeds and innocently swinging back and forth her feet.

Zuo Zi Mu took a look at the letter Gong Guang Jie was still clutching in his dead hand, but he couldn´t notice anything unusual. Only when he tilted his head and looked again, he perceived both on the envelope and on the letter a faint phosphorescent sheen. His heart went cold and he looked up at the girl. [Translator´s note: Before it decays under the influence of light to harmless red match phosphorus, white phosphorus is a highly poisonous substance. When not handled properly, white phosphorus also tends to ignite spontaneously, so don´t try this at home!]

"Miss," Zuo asked, "may we have the honour of knowing your venerable name?"

"I can´t tell you my venerable name. This is a secret of the highest degree, strictly on a `need to know´ basis."

When he heard that reply, a hot fury was flaring up in Zuo Zi Mu. But with a great effort of will he managed to suppress his anger and asked again, "Then who is your esteemed father? Under which master have you studied martial arts?"

"Haha," the girl replied laughing, "I am not falling for that. If I tell you who my esteemed father is, then you would know my venerable surname. And once you know my venerable surname, you can easily find out my magnificent given name. My master is my mother. But my mother´s name is even more secret than mine, I absolutely can not reveal it to you."

From her lovely and somewhat glutinous pronunciation Zuo Zi Mu could tell that she was definitely from south of the Yun Ridge.

"Where among the martial artists of the kingdom," he asked himself, "might be a married couple who are good climbers and could be her parents?"

The girl had not fought yet, so he had no way to base a guess on her techniques. Therefore he turned to her again.

"Miss," he said, "please come down. Let´s discuss this and try to find countermeasures together. The Shen Nong Guild doesn´t let anyone leave the area; they will kill you too."

The girl laughed. "They won´t kill me. The Shen Nong Guild is killing only members of the Wuliang Fencing School. I heard about this out on the road, so I came here to watch the slaughter. Bearded old man, your fencing skills are not bad, but you don´t know anything about poison. You can´t win against the Shen Nong Guild."

With that she had precisely pointed out the weakness of the Wuliang School. In an open and honest fight, the two factions of the fencing school plus the eight representatives of other schools who had been invited as arbitrators would always be able to overcome the Shen Nong Guild. But when it was a matter of using poisons or curing poisoning, nobody among those present had the least cue.

From the tone of her voice Zuo Zi Mu could tell that the girl was really looking forward to the impending disaster, as if she would be the happier the more people from the Wuliang School died.

He snorted coldly and asked, "Miss, what exactly did you hear on the road?"

He was used to giving orders and in his arrogance would never had thought that anybody would not answer a question posed by him.

The girl however suddenly asked out of nowhere, "Do you want some melon seeds?"

Zuo ZiMu's face turned a slight purple, if it wasn't because the enemies are at the gates, he would have snapped along time ago.  So he restrained himself with the greatest of effort and answered: "No!"

Naturally, Duan Yu cut in: "What kind of melon seeds are you eating?  Laurel?  Rose?  Pine?"  The girl replied: "Woah!  What's the big deal about melon seeds?  Why have so many different kinds?  I don't know about all those kinds of melon seeds, but these are made my mom.  She made them by frying gall bladders of snakes.  Eating them improves your eyesight, want to give it a try?"  She gave a handful to Duan Yu and continued: "People who aren't used to them think they are somewhat bitter, but actually they taste really good."  Duan Yu didn't want to go against her wishes, so he put one in his mouth.  It is somewhat bitter, but there is a bit of spiciness to it with very sweet after-taste.  Afterwards the back of his tongue feels clean and refreshed, so he picked up another one and put it in his mouth.  He placed all of the shells neatly on the beam besides him, but the girl didn't seem to care and just casually spat them out.  The random falling shells has caused quite a few people below to get annoyed and move further away.

Zuo ZiMu asked again: "Miss, what did you hear out there?  If you can tell us, I... I will be forever grateful."  Because he is the one in need, he tried to sound as polite as he can.  The young girl asked in return: "The Divine Farmer Clan people talked about some 'No Measure Jade Cliff', what in the world is that?"  Zuo ZiMu was taken aback for a moment, quickly recovered and replied: "'No Measure Jade Cliff'?  Do we have some precious jade or jade stone?  Never heard of it before, Sister Xin, have you heard of this before?"  Before ShuangQing could responde, the young girl cut in: "Of course she never heard of it before.  Stop playing around as if I'm a kid, if you don't want to say it, then don't.  Hmph!  Not like I really care!"

A bit awkwardly, Zuo ZiMu continued: "Oh yeah, I think I know.  Divine Farmer Clan was probably talking about this smooth cliff face of the White Dragon Peak in our No Measure Mountain.  This rock is very smooth like a mirror, you can even make out individual hairs in the reflection.  Some people say it is a big piece of jade, but in reality, it's really nothing more than a really smooth and really clean piece of rock."

The young girl replied: "Well if that's all why didn't you say earlier?  Then how did you and Divine Farmer Clan become enemies?  Why do they would they not even allow a dog of No Measure Sword live?"

Zuo ZiMu sees that he can't get anything out of the girl without first letting his secrets out.  Because the urgentness of the situation and with all the outsiders present, he can't very well grab the girl and force her to tell can he?  He suggested: "Miss, please come down so I can tell you everything."  The girl's feet continued to swing back and forth again: "If you are going to tell, what difference does it make if I come down?  And I don't believe more than half of what you say anyways.  So go right ahead."

Rage flashed on Zuo ZiMu's face, but he quickly recovered and began: "Last year Divine Farmer Clan came to ask for access to our back mountains to collect some herbs and I refused.  So they snuck in and ran into Brother Rong and a couple of disciples, they scolded the perpetrators for trespassing.  They replied: "What is this place?  The Imperial Gardens?  Why can't we come here?  Did No Measure Sword buy up all of No Measure Mountain?"  Words were exchanged and the conversation became very heated until they finally started fighting.  Brother Rong did not hold anything back and killed two of them.  That's how it all started.  Then on the banks of the Lan Cang River us 2 sides got together again, a couple more of lives were lost there."  The young nodded: "Oh, so that's it?  What kind of herbs were they looking for?"  Zuo ZiMu replied: "I'm not quite sure which kind."

The young girl triumphantly replied: "Figured you wouldn't know.  Since you have told me how all this got started, I should probably tell 2 things.  That day I was out catching snakes for my marten Lightning..."  Duan Yu cuts it: "Your marten's name is Lightning?"  The young girl answered: "Yeah, of course.  When he gets going, isn't he quick as lightning?"  Duan Yu nodded in agreement: "That's right!  Lightning... such a good name!"  Zuo ZiMu glared at Duan Yu for interrupting, but the girl is just getting to the important part and might get mad if he goes after Duan Yu, so he kept his mouth shut.

The young girl continued to talk to Duan Yu: "Lightning loves to eat poisonous snakes, he doesn't eat anything else really.  I have had him since he was born, he's 4 now.  He only listens to me and nobody else, not even my parents.  If I want him to frighten people then he would, if I tell him to bite he goes and do it.  Such a good boy!"  She reaches into her pouch with her left hand, petting the marten.

Duan Yu isn't a complete fool: "Mr. Zuo is just as anxious as can be.  Why don't you tell him what he wants to know."

The girl let out a little laugh, looked down at Zuo ZiMu, and continued: "So there I was hiding in the bushes searching for snakes, when a couple of men came walking by.  One of them said: 'This time, if we don't kill all of No Measure Sword, take over No Measure Mountain and the Sword Lake Palace, all of our heads will be taking a nice little trip.'  I heard that there will be some fighting, figured it would be pretty interesting, so I kept on listening.  They just stayed there chatting, saying something about orders from the Nimble Vulture Palace of Misty Peak to take over Sword Lake Palace and check up on 'No Measure Jade Cliff'."

As she said this, Zuo ZiMu and ShuangQing shot a look at one another at the same time.

The girl asked: "What exactly is Nimble Vulture Palace of Misty Peak?  Why does Divine Farmer Clan listen to its command?"  Zuo ZiMu replied: "This is the first time we have heard of the Nimble Vulture Palace of Misty Peak.  We had no idea that Divine Farmer Clan was actually obeying orders when they were stirring up troubles with us."  Thinking that the Divine Farmer Clan would obey them, then that Misty Peak-whatever must be quite formidable.  Of all the mountains and peaks in Yu Nan, Zuo ZiMu has never heard of one called Misty Peak.  The more he thought about all of this the more worried he got.

The girl ate 2 more melon seeds before continuing: "So then one guy said: 'If the herb Heaven's Link of No Measure Mountain can cure the illness of our clan leader.  Then we would gladly take on whatever hardships that may come our way to get our hands on it.'  Another guy sighed: "Only the Kid Elder of Heaven Mountain (Tian Shan Tong Lao) herself can cure this Life-Death Insignia that is in me.  Heaven's Link may have amazing healing powers, but I'm just hoping that it would easy some of the pain when this Life-Death Insignia breaks out, it really is worse than death itself when....'  They walked away and I can't hear them anymore.  Am I clear enough on what happened?"

Zuo ZiMu was deep in thought and did not answer.  ShuangQing suggested: "Brother Zuo, Heaven's Link is nothing special.  If Si KongXuan (head of Divine Farmer Clan) want some to numb the pain, then why don't you give him some and all would be solved?"  Zuo ZiMu snapped back: "Like it would make a difference if we give them some Heaven's Link? Didn't you hear?  They are after No Measure Mountain and the Sword Lake Palace!"  ShuangQing hmphed at him again, but did not reply.

The girl put her right arm under Duan Yu's armpits and said: "Going down?"  Before Duan Yu could answer she's already leapt off of the beam.  Duan Yu just managed to let a little yelp out before he was in midair as well.  The girl gently landed on the floor with Duan Yu, her left arm still around his right arm.  She suggested: "Wonder what Divine Farmer Clan looks like?  Let's go outside and have a look."

Zuo ZiMu jumped forth: "Hold down, I still have a couple of question I want to ask.  You said that when the Life-Death Insignia on Si KongXuan breaks out, it is worse than death itself.  What is Life-Death Insignia?  And who is the Kid Elder of Heaven Mountain?"

The young girl replied: "First of all, I don't know the answers to your questions.  Second of all, with an attitude like that, even if I knew the answers I wouldn't tell ya."

At a crucial time like this, Zuo ZiMu really don't want to make more enemies.  But the existence of No Measure Sword in jeopardy here, he can't afford not to get to the bottom of all this.  So he jumped in front of Duan Yu and the girl and said: "Miss, Divine Farmer Clan is right outside, if you go out and something unfortunate happens to you.  Then my conscience will not let me live in peace."  The girl answered with a smile: "Why would care since you didn't really invite me here?  Besides, you don't even know my name, if Divine Farmer Clan kills me my parents can't really blame it on you."  All the while she's tugging on Duan Yu's arm and walking towards the door.

Zuo ZiMu unsheathed the sword from his waist: "Miss, please stay."  The girl asked: "Using force now?"  Zuo ZiMu replied: "I just want to get some clear answers regarding the questions I asked earlier."  The girl replied: "And if I don't tell you?  Are you going to kill me?"  Zuo ZiMu replied: "Well you have left me with no choice."  He brought his sword up to chest level, blocking the exist of the 2 of them.

The girl turned to Duan Yu: "This old man wants to kill me, what do you think we should do?"  Duan Yu flicked the fan in his hand, then answered: "Well, we should do whatever you think we should do."  The girl asked: "If he just stabs me and kills me, then what?"  Duan Yu replied: "'Share the blessings, share the hardships.’  Melon seeds we ate together, sword blades we take on together."  The young girl replied: "Now there's a couple of good sentences.  You are turning out to be quite a friend, I guess us meeting is not in vain after all.  Let's go."  She started to walk toward the door, as if the sinisterly green sword in Zuo ZiMu's hand is not there.

The sword in Zuo ZiMu's hand moved toward the left shoulder of the girl.  He had no intentions of harming her really, just wanted to stop her from leaving.

The young girl tapped the pouch around her waist and whistled.  Suddenly a white flash leapt out of the bag onto Zuo ZiMu's right arm.  Zuo ZiMu immediately tried to snatch it off with his hand.  But the marten was just too quick for him; before he knew it, the marten has already bit his wrist and jumped back into the girl's pouch.

Zuo ZiMu let out a loud cry and let his sword drop to the floor.  Feeling his right wrist go numb, he screamed: "Poison, poison!  You... The little bastard marten has poison!"  His left hand grabbing just above his right wrist, trying desperately to prevent the poison from spreading upwards.

The disciples of No Measure Sword East Faction scrambled up, 3 of them went to support their master, the rest of them all drew their swords and surrounded Duan Yu and the girl.  Pointing their swords at the 2 of them, someone threatened: "Quickly hand over the cure, or else this girl will die a most horrible death."

The girl laughed: "I don't have any cure.  But you guys just need to get some Heaven's Link, fry it in some thick oil, then feed him a bowl and he should be alright.  But within the next 6 hours, he is not allowed to move much, or else the poison goes straight to the heart, and that's not good.  What the hell do you guys think you are doing blocking my way?  Want to give my marten a try?"  As she said this she reached into her pouch and took out her marten.  Holding the marten up in her right hand, she started to walk out with her left arm still around Duan Yu's arm.

The disciples have all seen the sorry plight that their master is in, they know that with what little kungfu they have, there is no way they can avoid being bitten by the marten, much less catching it.  So they all just stood there and watched the two of them walk out of the hall.

All the guest that was invited saw the speed of the marten as well.  Nobody walked out and tried to stop them.

The girl walked out shoulder to shoulder with Duan Yu.  The disciples of No Measure Sword are either inside the hall or just outside guarding against possible attacks.  The two of them did not run into a single person since walking out of Sword Lake Palace.

The girl said quietly: "Lightning has ate upwards of thousands of poisonous snakes in his life, so his teeth are extremely poisonous.  That old man that just got bit should have immediately chopped his arm off, if he waits just a couple of hours more, he would die within 8 days."  Duan Yu turned to her and asked: "But you said all he needed to do was drink a big bowl of soup made from Heaven's Link?"  The girl let out a little laugh and answered: "I was just messing with them.  If I don't, would they have let us out?"  Duan Yu was quite taken aback by this: "Wait here for me for a moment while I go back and tell him."  The girl pulled him back: "Dummy, if you go back and tell them, do you think they would let us live?  Lightning is really something, but he and I can't hold them off if they all came at us.  You said it yourself: 'Melon seeds we ate together, sword blades we take on together.'  I can't just ran away by myself and leave you here to die."

Duan Yu scratched his head: "Then why don't you just give him some cure?"  The young girl replied: "Ay!  What’s with all the fuss?  They hit you and you are still this nice to them?"  Duan Yu raised his hand and felt his cheek, he replied: "It was only one slap, and it stopped hurting a long time ago, so what's the point in remembering it?  Pity the person that hit me died, Mencius read: 'A compassionate heart is the epitome of humanity.'  Buddha taught: Save one human life is better than the 7th level of enlightenment.'  Although Mr. Zuo was very malicious, he was still very polite towards you."

That young girl let out a cute little laugh before replying: "At that time I had something that he wanted, of course he is going to be polite to me.  I know you are talking for him so I can give him the cure, but I really don't have it.  Only my dad has the cure.  Besides, soon there won't be a dog left of No Measure Sword after Divine Farmer Clan gets through with them.  By the time I get the cure from my dad and return, that Zuo ZiMu's head won't be attached to his neck anymore.  At that point, I'm afraid it won't make much of a difference whether or not he is poisoned."

Duan Yu shook his head a bit, but decided to stop talking about the cure.  The moon has just risen; under the moonlight, Duan Yu notices that the young girl's face, which is white with faint signs of red, is even more tender and enchanting.  He had to ask: "You couldn't tell your name to that old man with a beard, but can you tell me?"  The young girl smiled and answered: "My surname is Zhong, my mom and dad call me simply 'Ling-Er" , so you can call me that too if you want to.  Let's go sit down over there on the hillside.  So tell me, why in the world you came to No Measure Mountain."

The two of them walked side by side toward the hillside to the northwest.  Duan Yu started to talk as they walked: "I ran away from home, wandered all over the place.  By the time I arrived in Pu Er I have ran out of money.  I heard from people there that a Mr. Ma WuDe is very good to guests and visitors, so I went to visit him to get a couple of free meals.  Just so happens he was about to leave to come to No Measure Mountain.  I heard many times of No Measure Mountain's beauty and serenity.  So I decided to follow him here to check it out."  Zhong Ling nodded her head and asked: "So why did you ran away from home?"  Duan Yu replied: "My dad wanted to teach me kungfu, I didn't want to learn.  So he started to force me, so I had no choice but to run away."

Zhong Ling stared at him in disbelief, sizing him up over and again.  Still not quite believing him, she asked: "Why don't you want to learn kungfu?  Don't want to put in the hard work?"  Duan Yu replied: "I don't care about putting in the hard work.  It just doesn't make any sense in my head to learn it.  So I disobeyed my dad, so my dad got mad and got in an argument again with my mom...."  Zhong Ling smiled: "Your mom is always taking your side and argues with your dad, right?"  Duan Yu answered: "Of course!"  Zhong Ling sighed: "My mom is the same."  She stared toward the west spellbound, as if looking at something very far away.  After a long while, she asked: "Why doesn't it make sense to you?"

Duan Yu replied: "I have been studying Buddhism since I was a kid.  Dad even hired a teacher to come and teach me The Four Books and the Five Classics, as well as poetry, lyrics, songs, and prose.  He also invited a very wise monk to come and teach me Buddhist scriptures.  For the last 10 years, I have been taught that a follower of Confucianism should have a merciful heart, pushing himself to help others.  In addition, a disciple of Buddha must not kill nor rage but should be merciful and benevolent in mind and action.  Suddenly my dad wanted me to learn kungfu, to learn how to beat and kill people.  Naturally, I felt it was wrong and didn't listen.  My dad and me debated and argued about this for 3 days and I still won't listen.  He had many of scripture quotes remembered wrong, and some of his interpretations were off too." {Note: The Four Books are The Great Doctrine, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucious, and Mencius.  The Five Classics are The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites, and The Spring and Autumn Annals.}

Zhong Ling added: "So your dad got really mad and beat you, right?"

Duan Yu shook his head: "My dad didn't hit me at all.  He just merely hit 2 pressure points on my body and in an instant it felt like there thousands and thousands of ants and mosquitoes biting down on me.  My dad said: 'How does it feel?  I am your dad, so I'll stop this after a bit, but what if I was your enemy, then you are in for a fate worse than death.  Just try and see if you can kill yourself.'  At that time, I can't even lift a finger, how was I suppose to commit suicide?  Besides, I'm doing pretty good living, why would I want to kill myself?  Afterwards my mom came and started to argue with my dad and my dad released my pressure points.  The next day I ran away."

Zhong Ling listened to all of this in disbelieve, suddenly she said rather loudly: "Your dad knows how to hit pressure points, not only that but it's also one of the top kungfus in the world!  Did he just stabbed somewhere on your body with on finger and then you couldn't move and feels numb and itchy all over?"  Duan Yu answered: "Yeah, what's so strange about that?"  Zhong Ling's face is just full of shock and disbelief: "You asked me what's so strange about that?  You actually asked me what's so strange about that?!  If people would be willing to kowtow to your dad 10000 times and beg for 10 or 20 years just to learn a fraction of your dad's pressure point hitting kungfu.  Yet you actually don't want to learn it, of course it is strange!"

Duan Yu replied: "I really don't see what's the big deal about this pressure point hitting kungfu."  Zhong Ling sighed: "You must not say that.  And you must not let others know about this!"  Duan Yu asked: "Why?"

Zhong Ling answered: "You don't know any kungfu and don't understand anything about the martial world either do you?  Your family's pressure point hitting kungfu has no match in this world, it's called '1 Yang Zhi'.  Other people in this world,  when they hear the phrase '1 Yang Zhi', they almost drool in envy.  If people knew your dad knows this, some of them probably would kidnap you and force your dad to exchange the manual for '1 Yang Zhi' as ransom.  Then what?"

Duan Yu scratched his head: "Didn't even think about that?  My dad will probably get really mad and go fight it out with them."  Zhong Ling said: "Right, most people wouldn't dare to go fight against your family.  But for the secrets of '1 Yang Zhi', you never know.  Besides, you are in their hands so that really makes the situation very difficult.  Tell you what, don't even tell people that your surname is Duan."

Duan Yu replied: "There are tens of thousands of people with the surname of Duan in DaLi, I don't think every single one of them knows this kungfu.  Besides, if my surname is not Duan, then what is it?"  Zhong Ling smiled: "Why don't you just momentarily use mine?"  Duan Yu smiled back: "That works, but you are going to have to call me 'big brother' now.  How old are you?"  Zhong Ling answered: "16!  How about you?"  Duan Yu replied: "I'm 3 years older than you."

Zhong Ling plucked a piece of grass from the ground and slowly tore it to pieces.  Suddenly she shook her head and said: "You actually turned down learning '1 Yang Zhi'!  I still can't believe that!  You are lying to me aren't you?"

Duan Yu laughed at that a bit, and replied: "You make it sound so marvelous and wonderful, but can it feed you and help you make a living?  I say that your marten of yours, Lightning, is alot more formidable.  I just don't like the fact that he can kill with just merely a bite."  Zhong Ling sighed: "If he can't kill with just a bite, then what good is he for?"  Duan Yu replied: "You are such a young girl, why are you thinking about killing and fighting all the time?"

Zhong Ling asked: "You really don't get it?  Or are you just pulling my leg?"  Duan Yu answered with a question of his own: "What do you mean?"  Zhong Ling pointed to the east: "Look over there."

Duan Yu looked over and sees about 10 or so clouds of greenish smoke coming from half way up the mountain that she was pointing to.  But he can't really figure out what that means.

Zhong Ling continued: "You don't want to kill others.  But others want to kill you.  You aren't going to just hand them your head on a platter are you?  Those smoke are coming from Divine Farmer Clan preparing their poison, which will soon be used against No Measure Sword.  I don't want to get involved with this mess, let's try and get away from here."

Duan Yu shook the fan in his hand: "This kind of fighting and quarreling in the martial world is getting more and more out of hand.  Somebody in No Measure Sword killed someone in Divine Farmer Clan, but now Divine Farmer Clan got Rong ZiJu and Gong GuangJie, an eye for an eye, I say they are about even.  Even if there are some injustice, they should go to the local magistrate and let them handle it, not just go out and kill!  Does our DaLi not have laws anymore?"

Zhong Ling clicked her tongue 3 times and a bit of disdain and scorn shown up on her face.  She replied: "From what you say, you would think that you are a relative of the king or some big shot official or something.  Us normal people aren't going to listen to that."  She looked up at the sky for a bit, pointed to the southwest, and whispered: "We'll wait until the moon goes behind a cloud, then we'll sneak out in that direction.  I don't think the Divine Farmer Clan will catch us if we do that."  Duan Yu replied: "No!  I'm going to go talk to their leader and tell him not to kill people just because he wants to."  Some pity surfaced in Zhong Ling's eyes: "Big Brother, you really don't understand how things work do you?  Divine Farmer Clan is dark, evil, and mean.  They are very good at using poison, you just saw how they killed 2 people back there.  Let's not cause more trouble and get out of here."  Duan Yu answered: "No!  I'm going to have to get involved in this, if you are afraid, then just wait here for me."  He stood up and started walking to the east.

Zhong Ling waited until he has walked 10 meters or so, then she suddenly chased up to him, her right hand coming out aiming for his shoulder.  Duan Yu heard the footsteps and was just about to turn around when she grabbed his right shoulder.  Zhong Ling followed with a slight hook with her leg.  Duan Yu couldn't keep his balance and fell straight forward, his nose smashed against a rock and started to bleed.  He hurriedly stood back up and angrily asked: "What the hell was that for?  Damn that hurts!"  Zhong Ling said: "I wanted to see once and for all whether you really don't know any kungfu or just pretending.  I was doing this for your own good."

Duan Yu replied with some indignation: "What's so good about it?"  He wiped his nose with his hand, immediately his hand was covered in blood.  Some blood fell onto his chest and caused a couple of red spots on his shirt.  He really wasn't that hurt, but seeing so much blood come out, he couldn’t help but to start muttering: "Ouch! Ouch!"

Zhong Ling is starting to get a little worried as well, she quickly took out her handckerchief out and tried to wipe some of the blood off.  Duan Yu is still mad at her, so he tried to push her away, saying: "Get away from me, who don't need your sympathy?"  He doesn't know any kungfu and his moves had no coordination.  So as he naturally tried to push her away, his palm headed straight towards her chest.  Zhong Ling just reacted naturally and grabbed his wrist, borrowed the force of his push, and added a little push of her own at the end, all in one motion.  Duan Yu had no chance and fell over again, this time he banged his head against a rock and fainted.

Zhong Ling saw that he is not moving, so she shouted at him: "Get up!  I'm not finished talking to you!"  Seeing that he's still not moving, she starts to get worried, and quickly went over to him.  Noticing that Duan Yu has fainted, she immediated pinched his philtrum, and then started to massage his chest with great effort.

After a while, Duan Yu finally started to come around.  Feeling as if he is leaning against something soft and noticing a very faint, sweet, and serene smell, he slowly opened his eyes and saw the beautiful eyes of Zhong Ling looking down at him with great concern.  Seeing that he has come around, Zhong Ling let out a huge sigh of relief and said: "Thank goodness you didn't die."  Noticing that he is lying in her lap with his head leaned up against her stomach, Duan Yu's heart skipped a beat.  However, immediately he felt the throbbing pain on the back of his head and let out a big "Ouch!"

This gave Zhong Ling quite a scare: "What's the matter?"  Duan Yu answered: "My... my head hurts like hell."  Zhong Ling said: "You are not dead, no need to scream bloody hell."  Duan Yu replied: "If I'm dead, how could I scream bloody hell?"

Zhong Ling laughed at that comment, she held his head up.  The back of his head has an egg size bump where it banged against the rock, although it's not bleeding, she figure it still hurts alot.  She said: "Well who told you to make such a perverted move?  If it were anyone else, I would have immediately killed him.  You only got a bump on your head, you should be thankful."

Duan Yu sat up: "Me?  Perverted?  What in the world?  Where did you get that idea?"

Zhong Ling was young and hencefore only kind of understand man-woman relationship but not really.  She blushed and said: "I'm not telling you, all in all you were in the wrong.  Who told you to send your palm toward th... there...."  Duan Yu suddenly realized what she was talking about and felt very embarrassed, he tried to think of something to say to explain.  But he decided that excuses are not right, so he said: "I... I didn't mean to do that."  After saying that, he stood up.

Zhong Ling got up as well: "Since you didn't mean to, I'll guess I'll let that one slide.  Good thing you finally came around, you scared the hell out of me right then and there."  Duan Yu said: "Back in the Sword Lake Palace, if you didn't show up and help me, I was sure to get a couple of slaps to the face.  Now that I fell twice, I say everything is even.  When it comes down to it, it's all fate, I can't avoid it."  Zhong Ling replied: "Why are you talking like that?  Are you still mad at me?"  Duan Yu answered: "Well you don't expect me to cheer: 'Great, wonderful!' or turn around and thank you when you hit me do you?"  Zhong Ling grabbed his hand, said in an apologetic tone: "Please don't be mad at me.  I swear I won't hit you ever again."  Duan Yu said: "Only if you let me hit you really hard twice."

Zhong Ling really don't want to, but seeing how he has turned around and is about to walk off, she relented: "Alright, I'll let you hit me twice.  Just... just don't hit me too hard."  Duan Yu replied: "If I don't hit you hard, then how can I get my justice?  It has to be hard, if you don't want me to hit you, then just forget it."

Zhong Ling sighed, closed her eyes, and quietly said: "Alright!  But after you hit me, you can't be mad anymore."

After a while, Duan Yu still haven't hit her yet.  So she opened her eyes and saw Duan Yu looking at her, sort of smiling but not quite.  Zhong Ling asked in surprise: "What are you waiting for?"  Duan Yu stuck out his right pinky, lightly flicked once on her right cheek, and then lightly flicked on her left cheek.  Smiling, he said: "Alright.  That's as hard as I could hit you.  Did it hurt much?"  Zhong Ling couldn't be any happier: "I knew all along that you were a good person!"

She's standing less than 1/2 a meter away from Duan Yu, her fragrance permeates the air.  The more Duan Yu look at her the prettier she became.  He didn't want to move away.  After a long while, he finally said: "Alright, now that I got my revenge, I need to go find that SiKong Xuan now."

Zhong Ling anxiously said: "Dummy, don't go!  You don't know a thing about the rules of the martial world, if you somehow offend him accidentally, I can't get you out of it this time."  Duan Yu smiled and shook his head: "Don't worry, I'll be back soon, just wait for me here."  He turns around and starts to walk toward the green smoke.

Zhong Ling stood there trying to decide what to do, then she said: "Alright, like you said: 'Melon seeds ate together, sword blades we take on together'!"  She chased up to him and they walked side-by-side toward the smoke.

Soon, they see 2 men dressed in yellow running up to them.  The older one on the left spoke up: "Who is it?  What are you here for?"  Both men had a medicine bag hanging off their shoulders, each had a wider than usual sabre in hand.  Duan Yu answered: "I am Duan Yu, I wish to talk to Master SiKong of you clan."  The old man asked: "What for?"  Duan Yu replied: "I will tell Master SiKong when I see him."  The old man asked: "May I humbly ask which sect are you from and who your master is?"

Duan Yu answered: "I'm not of any sect.  My master's surname is Meng, his name is ShuSheng, and he has styled himself XuRu.  My master's specialty is logic of changes, and has had some remarkable success in the field of talks of the divine and systems of diction."  He was, of course, refering to his teacher that was invited by his dad to teach him the 4 Books and the 5 Classics.  That old man, hearing the "talks of the divine" and the "systems of diction", thought they were some weird and strange kungfu.  Duan Yu standing there casually fanning himself with the fan in his hand have all the looks of a kungfu master who does not want to show himself.  Although the old man has never heard of anyone in the martial world named Meng ShuSheng, but since Duan Yu said he "has had some remarkable success" he probably isn't just some nobody.  So he politely said to Duan Yu: "If that's the case, then please wait here for a second while I go and report to my master."

Zhong Ling waited until he hurriedly ran up and around the hill, then turned to Duan Yu and asked: "What was all that lie about 'logics of changes'?  What kind of kungfu is that?  What if SiKong Xuan tests you later?  How are you going to cover that?"  Duan Yu replied: "I remember most all of the 'Cycle of Changes'.  It probably wouldn't be that bad if SiKong Xuan wants to test me on the meanings and philosophies within it."  Zhong Ling just stared at him, not sure how to respond.

The old man came back and said with a stone cold face: "What the hell are you talking about?  Master tells you to go see him!"  From his looks, he probably got a good bit of scolding from SiKong Xuan.  Duan Yu nodded and started to walk up with Zhong Ling.

Soon the 3 of them soon made their way around the mountain side and came up to 20 or so men sitting around in a pile of scattered rocks.  Duan Yu walked up, seeing a short and skinny old man sitting on the tallest rock, he has a goatee beard and has a arrogant expression on his face.  Duan Yu figured that he probably is the head of the Divine Farmer Clan SiKong Xuan, so he cupped his fist and said: "Duan Yu is honored to meet Master SiKong."

SiKong Xuan just merely nodded his head, not even getting up, he asked: "Mr. Duan, why are you coming to see me?"

Duan Yu replied: "I heard that your clan and No Measure Sword has become mortal enemies.  Having just witnessed 2 people of No Measure Sword dying a most horrible of deaths, I heart could not bear it and decided to come here in an attempt to try and stop all this killing.  'Enemies are easy to make but hard to break', and besides, this kind of vigilante killing is against the law.  If any governor or officials find out, it could be a lot of trouble.  I hope that Master SiKong would stop before it is too late and not trouble No Measure Sword anymore."

SiKong Xuan just sat there and listened to him talked.  Now that Duan Yu stopped talking, SiKong Xuan still did not responde, just looking at Duan Yu sideways.

Duan Yu continued: "What I just said is a plea for Master SiKong to think it all through before acting."  SiKong Xuan is still looking at him with curiosity, suddenly he let out a hearty laugh and said: "Who do you think you are?  Actually coming here and try to distract me.  Who told you to come here?"  Duan Yu answered: "Nobody told me to come here, I came here because I wanted to."

SiKong Xuan hmphed and replied: "I have been walking around in the martial world for 40 years, and never once has anyone as brazen as you little bastard.  Ah-Sheng, seize these 2 little kids for me."  The tall man besides him answered and grabbed Duan Yu's right arm.

Zhong Ling immediately shouted out: "Hold on!  Master SiKong, Mr. Duan has only been trying to politely persuade you, if you don't want to listen then don't, why come to blows?"  She turns to Duan Yu: "Big Brother, Divine Farmer Clan won't listen to you.  We don't need to get involved in other people's business, let's go."

Ah-Sheng has already grabbed Duan Yu's arm and twisted them behind his back, he looked at SiKong Xuan, waiting for his instructions on what to do next.  SiKong Xuan coldly said: "The thing that the Divine Farmer Clan hates the most is other people meddling in our affairs.   There must be something more to you 2 babies coming here and wasting my time.  Ah-Hong, seize the girl."  Another man answered as he extends his hands toward Zhong Ling.

Zhong Ling stepped 3 steps to the side and said: "Master SiKong, in truth, I'm not scared of you.  It's just that my mom and dad does not want me to make trouble.  So let my Big Brother Duan go, or else when you force me to responde in kind, it would not be much fun."

SiKong Xuan laughed heartily at that comment: "Well aren't we boasting a little too much?  Ah-Hong!  What are you waiting for?"  Ah-Hong answered again as he tries to grab Zhong Ling's wrist.  Zhong Ling pulled her right arm back and sent her left palm out.  The palm is like a knife as it heads toward Ah-Hong's forehead.  Ah-Hong lowered his head to avoid the move, but Zhong Ling's right fist came in from underneath in an uppercut. It caught him squarely on the jaw and knocked him onto his back.

SiKong Xuan casually observed: "Seems like the girl can do a thing or 2, but not enough to be able to get away with it here."  He shot a look over at a tall old man besides him and waved his right hand.  The old man immediately stood up and stepped up to Zhong Ling.  He is a whole 2 feet taller than Zhong Ling and his hands came in from above, like talons, straight for her shoulders.

Zhong Ling immediately dodges out of the way, but the man's left hand merely missed her face by inches.  Feeling the piercing wind caused by the move, Zhong Ling started to get a little scared, she spoke up: "Master SiKong, tell him to stop.  Else don't blame me for being impolite, and when my dad scolds me for this in the future, you won't be in such a good shape either."  As she is talking, she dodged 3 more moves from the old man.  SiKong Xuan commanded: "Grab her!"  The old man led on with his left hand while his right hand drew a little circle, suddenly he flipped his palm down and grabbed onto Zhong Ling's right arm.

Zhong Ling let out a little scream and squirmed in pain.  She shook her left hand and whistled a couple of time.  A flash white shot out.  The old man let out a muted groan, let her arm go, and sat down on the ground.  The marten has bit him on the back of his hand and has already jumped back into Zhong Ling's waiting hands.

A middle-aged man jumped out from beside SiKong Xuan and helped the old man up.  The old man's whole body was shaking and the back of his hand has turned pitch-black.  Zhong Ling whistled twice more and her marten scrambled towards Ah-Sheng's face.  Ah-Sheng tried to bat it away, but the marten instead just bit him on his hand.  Ah-Sheng's kungfu is not as good as the old man's, so he is even less able to tolerate it.  Immediately he curled up into a ball and started to scream.  Zhong Ling grabbed Duan Yu's arm, started to walk off quickly, and whispered: "We are in trouble now, let's get out of here!"

The men sitting around SiKong Xuan are all the top fighters in the Divine Farmer Clan, these men have dealt with poison for most of their lives and has seen pretty much every kind of poison there is.  But this marten's lightning speed and incredible poison is something that none of them has ever heard of.  SiKong Xuan shouted: "Seize this girl this instant!  Don't let her get away!"  Four men answered his order and jumped up.  They split into 2 groups and came at the 2 of them from opposite sides.

Zhong Ling whistled several more times and the marten jumped from one person to the next.  In an blink of an eye, all 4 men are either rolling on the ground or curled up into a ball.

The members of the Divine Farmer Clan all know that this little marten is indeed something to be reckoned with, but nobody wanted to seem cowardly in front of the leader.  So seven or eight more men came chasing after them.  Zhong Ling threatened: "If you don't want to live then come on!"  The men are all holding a weapon, be it a medicine back or a short sabre, all hoping to try and bat away the marten with his weapon.  But the marten is faster than any flying weapon in the world, and soon all of the men were rolling on the ground as well.

SiKong Xuan tossed off his robe, reached into his bosom and took out a small bottle.  He applied the contents of the bottle to his hands and arms, and started chasing after Duan Yu and Zhong Ling.  He jumped in front of the 2 of them and said: "Stop!"

The marten jumped from Zhong Ling's hands towards his nose.  SiKong Xuan held his palm up vertically, but couldn't help but feel nervous.  He is not sure whether or not this medicine that works against snake poison will work against this poisonous marten that he has never heard of before.  If it doesn't the his life and the entire clan is destroyed.  The marten was just about to bite down on his hand when suddenly it twisted in the air, and bounced back to Zhong Ling by rebounding off of his hand with its back feet.  Turns out that inside the marten there is stored a great amount of snake poison, which is exactly what the medicine that SiKong Xuan applied works the best against.  SiKong Xuan was delighted, immediately he struck out with his left palm.  The palm wind was fierce, Zhong Ling could not get out of the way and almost fell over.  Duan Yu, on the other hand, was completely overwhelmed by what is left of the palm wind and fell back on the ground.

Zhong Ling anxiously whistled a couple of more times, urging the marten to attack.  The marten jumped out again, but it could not bear the medicine on SiKong Xuan's palms.  So it instead went after his head and legs, but SiKong Xuan waved his arms around, protecting his body, making it impossible to get close.

SiKong Xuan is nevertheless still afraid of the marten, and he kept on giving orders to his men.

Twenty of so clan members surrounded them, each with an herb in hand.  They lit the herb and smoke started to fill the air.  Duan Yu just got up when he suddenly felt light headed and fell back down again.  In a daze, he saw that Zhong Ling also fell down from the smoke.  Two clan members steped forth to seize Zhong Ling, but the marten, in protecting its master, bit both of them.  Everyone stepped back in fear, still surrounding the 2 of them, but nobody dared to seize them.

SiKong Xuan ordered: "Start burning Manly Yellow on the east side and Deer Musk on the south side.  The others get out of the way."

The clan members followed the orders and started to burn Manly Yellow and Deer Musk.  There is not a herb or poison that the Divine Farmer Clan is not equiped with, not only that, all they have are the best picks of the drugs.  The pure Manly Yellow and Deer Musk they burned immediately let out a mace like cloud of smoke, carried by the southeasterly wind, the smoke slowly descended upon Zhong Ling.  However, the marten turned out to be immune to the smoke, still jumping back and forth among the clan members.  Before anyone knew it 5 more clan members had been biten.

Suddenly, an idea popped up in SiKong Xuan's mind.  He ordered: "Start piling up dirt, let's bury this girl and her marten alive."  The clan members immediately started to dig up dirt and throwing it onto Zhong Ling's body.

Duan Yu thought to himself that he is the cause of all this trouble.  How could he live on if Zhong Ling is going to die.  So he summoned up all his strength and flipped on top of Zhong Ling's body.  Holding her tight, he shouted: "We are dying together!"  The dirt kept on raining down on his head.

The words "We are dying together" hit home with SiKong Xuan.  He looked around, seeing 20 or so clan members rolling on the ground in pain, 7 or 8 of them are very important members of the clan, and 2 of them are actually his martial brothers.  Although his anger would be vented if he killed the girl right now, all these people would probably die too.  The marten's poison is unlike anything he has ever seen before, he probably has to get the remedy from her in order to cure it.  So he ordered: "Don't bury their heads, leave them alive."

Soon, the 2 of them are buried up to their heads.  Zhong Ling felt like an enormous weight has been placed on her body. and Duan Yu has held on to her the entire time.  Only their head is not covered by dirt, neither one of them could move an inch.

SiKong Xuan asked: "Little girl, do you want to live or die?"  Zhong Ling answered: "Of course I want to live.  If you kill me and Big Brother Duan here, then alot of you guys would die too."  SiKong Xuan replied: "Good, then quickly hand over the cure for that marten poison of yours, that way I'll let you live."  Zhong Ling shook her head: "Not just my life, both of our lives."  SiKong Xuan replied: "Alright, I'll let both of you live.  Where is the cure?"  Zhong Ling answered: "I don't have it on me.  Only my dad can cure Lightning's poison.  I told you earlier not to force me to use force, or else my dad would be mad at me and you wouldn't get anything good out of it either."  SiKong Xuan replied angrily: "Still bullshiting at a time like this?  See if I just leave you 2 here and let you 2 die of hunger!"

Zhong Ling replied: "Everything I have told you is true, why don't you believe me?  Ay!  All in all, this whole matter is really troublesome.  Probably won't be able to hide it from my dad, what do I do then?"  SiKong Xuan asked: "What's your dad's name?"  Zhong Ling answered: "You are not a baby, how come you are so unreasonable?  Like I can just go around telling everyone my dad's name."

SiKong Xuan has been making a living in the martial world for decades now and has earned a name and some fame in the world.  But today he has just about ran out of ideas regarding these 2 little kids.  He bit down and ordered: "Bring me a torch!  Let's light the little girl's hair on fire and see if she'll talk!"  A clan member handed over the torch, SiKong Xuan grabbed a hold of it and walked up to the 2 of them.

In the light of the fire, Zhong Ling could not help but get scared by his hideous expression.  She shouted out: "Hey!  Hey!  Don't burn my hair.  If the hair is on fire, then the head is going to hurt like crazy.  If you don't believe me, then why don't you try it on your beard?"  A hideous grin appeared on SiKong Xuan's face: "Of course it hurts, I don't need to burn my beard to know that."  Holding up the torch, he gave it a shake right in front of Zhong Ling's face.  Zhong Ling let out a little scream.

Duan Yu hugged her tightly and shouted: "Goat beard, I started this whole mess, why don't you burn my hair instead!"  Zhong Ling shouted back: "No!  It'll hurt you too."  SiKong Xuan offered: "Well if you are scared of getting hurt, then hand over the cure so I can start working on my brothers."

Zhong Ling replied: "How dumb are you really?  I have already told you, only my dad can cure Lightning's poison, even my mom does not know how.  My Lightning is very very rare, his bite is filled with strange and exotic poison.  You think it's that easy to cure?"

SiKong Xuan can hear the people that have been bitten groaning all around him, so he knows that the poison is very strong.  These men are care very much for face, they wouldn't even mutter a sound even if a hand or a foot is broken or cut off.  The medicine for snake venom has already been applied to every one of them.  But from the continued groans, it is obvious that the clan's anti-venom that has always worked before is having no effect.  Several people have tried to apply some medicines that work against scorpion, centipede, or spider poisons, but that has only increased the volume of their groans.  SiKong Xuan stared down at Zhong Ling with rage and shouted: "Who is your old man?  Tell me his name now!"

Zhong Ling asked: "You really want me to say it?  Aren't you scared to find out?"

This set SiKong Xuan off, he lifted up the torch and was just about to set Zhong Ling's hair on fire.  All of the sudden he felt an incredible amount of pain coming from the back of his head, something has bit him there.  Shocked, SiKong Xuan immediately took a breath to protect his head and heart, he tossed the torch away and tried to grab whatever is on the back of his head.  Suddenly the back of his hand was bitten as well.  Turns out that the marten has dug its way out of the dirt and taken advantage of the fact that SiKong Xuan was distracted and attacked.  After being bit twice in a row, SiKong Xuan is scared nearly out of his wits.  Immediately he sat down and started to try to force the poison out using his inner force.  The clan members were busily trying to cover the marten with dirt again, but this time the marten jumped up and bit two more men.  A couple of more white flashes in the dark and the marten has jumped into the bushes and disappeared.

SiKong Xuan's underlings hurriedly took out medicines and herbs that works against snake venom and start applying it to their master.  Some of the medicines were taken orally along with a ginseng they had available.  SiKong Xuan had to divide his strength against the 2 places where he was bitten and soon it became obvious to him that he can't keep this up.  Biting down hard, he grabbed the dagger around his waist with his left hand and cut of his right arm at the elbow.  The clan members all trembled at the sight and scrambled to put some drugs that stops bleeding on the wound.  But blood gushing out of the wound washed the medicines as soon as they were applied.  Eventually someone tore a piece of clothing off and tightly bandaged up SiKong Xuan's elbow, finally stopping the bleeding.

After witnessing such a harrowing scene, Zhong Ling's face turned white as she stopped shouting.  SiKong Xuan asked in a low voice: "After being bitten by that devil marten, how many days do you got?"  Zhong Ling answered in a shaky voice: "My dad said up to 7 days, but... but since Master SiKong your inner strength is so strong and is so good at kungfu.  Maybe... I'm sure you'll live for longer than that."

SiKong Xuan didn't reply, instead he ordered: "Pull that guy out of there."  The clan members pulled Duan Yu out of the dirt pile.  Zhong Ling panicked: "Hey!  Hey!  This has nothing to do with him!  Don't hurt him!"  She tried to take advantage of the moment and struggle out of the dirt pile, but the clan members immediately filled the space left by Duan Yu with more dirt.  Zhong Ling sees there is nothing more she can do, so she started crying.

Duan Yu is quite scared himself, but he forced himself to calm down.  Smiling, he said: "Miss Zhong, a true man faces death like it's nothing, don't show any weaknesses in front of these bad people."  Zhong Ling answered between sobs: "I'm not a man!  I don't want to face your death like it's nothing!  I want to show weakness!"

SiKong Xuan ordered in a heavy voice: "Give this fellow some Intestine Fragmenter (Duan Chang San), give him the 7 days worth of dosage."  A clan member poured out of a medicine bottle about half a bottle worth of red powder, and forced them into Duan Yu's mouth.  Zhong Ling cried out: "That's poison, don't eat it!"  Duan Yu knew it was a very potent poison when he heard the words "Intestine Fragmenter".  But figuring that since he is in the hands of others, there is nothing he can do to refuse to take the poison.  So he swallowed the powder, smacked his lips, smiled, and said: "Taste pretty sweet.  Master SiKong, how about you eat the other half of the bottle?"

SiKong Xuan just hmphed at him in anger.  Zhong Ling let out a little laugh in the middle of a sob, and then went right on crying.

SiKong Xuan said to Duan Yu: "This Intestine Fragmenter will break out after 7 days, splitting your intestines into inch long pieces.  Go and get the cure for the marten's poison, if you get back here in 7 days, then I'll give you the cure for it and let the girl go too."  Zhong Ling cuts in: "Just the drug does not work, you have to have my dad use his unique inner strength to force the poison out."  SiKong Xuan replied: "Then he is just going to get your dad here to get you out."  Zhong Ling replied: "Easy for you to say.  Like my dad would leave the mountain, he wouldn't even take a step out of the valley."  SiKong Xuan did not reply to her last comment.

Duan Yu offered: "How about this?  Why don't all of us go to Miss Zhong's home?  Then you can ask your dad to cure the poison, wouldn't that be fast and effective?"  Zhong Ling replied: "No, no!  My dad has sworn that if someone takes one step in my family valley, no matter who it is, only death awaits him."

SiKong Xuan thought to himself: "The No Measure Sword matter is not settled yet, can't leave this place.  If I did, it's not like the Kid Elder of Sky Mountain would let me live.  I would only die alot worse of a death."  By now the itch and numbness from the marten bite at the back of his head is getting worse and worse, he finally let out several groans of pain.

Zhong Ling said: "Master SiKong, sorry about this."  SiKong Xuan angrily replied: "Sorry my ass!"  Duan Yu cuts in (he seems to have a habit of this): "Master SiKong, using such vulgar language toward Miss Zhong is not the conduct of a gentlemen."

SiKong Xuan angrily rebuked: "Your grandma wasn't one either!"  However, he thought to himself: "When the 'Life-Death Insignia' in my body breaks out, the suffering is really unbearable.  Better to die like this, at least it's straightforward and clear cut."  So he turned to Zhong Ling: "I don't care about all the details, don't go invite get your dad for the cure is fine as well.  We'll just all die together here."  His words were filled with sadness and resignation.

Zhong Ling thought about all this for a bit and said: "Let me out of here, and I'll write a letter to my dad asking him to come here and rescue you.  And you send a person who is not afraid to die to deliever it."  SiKong Xuan responded: "I want this fellow named Duan to go, why send anyone else?"  Zhong Ling replied: "Man you got bad memory!  If someone takes one step in my family valley, no matter whom it is, that someone will die.  Didn’t I already tell you about this?  I don't want my Big Brother Duan to die, don't you know?"  SiKong Xuan answered: "He can't die, then the people in my clan should?  If he can't go the don't go, lets all die together.  See which one of us dies first."

Zhong Ling started to sob again: "What kind of a person are you?  Bullying a little girl like me?  People in the martial world will all find out about this and they all say that Master SiKong of Divine Farmer Clan has dragged his name through dirt and is not a real man."

SiKong Xuan only sat there and worried about using his inner strength to combat the poison, completely ignoring her.

Duan Yu spoke up: "Then just let me go then.  Miss Zhong, since I'm going to tell him the news and telling him to save you, I don't think he would do much harm to me."  Zhong Ling's face suddenly lit up: "I got it!  Follow my plan.  Don't tell my dad where I am, that way if he kills you, then he wouldn't know where I am.  Just leave as soon as you lead him here, or else it would not be good."  Duan Yu nodded: "This plan seems to work."

Zhong Ling turned to SiKong Xuan: "Master SiKong, Big Brother Duan is going to leave as soon as he arrives.  So how are you going to give the cure for 'Intestine Fragmenter'?"  SiKong Xuan pointed to a huge rock far to the northwest: "I'll instruct someone to wait there with the cure.  When Mr. Duan gets to that rock, he'll get the cure."  Since he wants Duan Yu to go and save his life, his words became considerably more polite.  So he ordered his men to dig Zhong Ling out, but first they handcuffed her hands and then dug out her lower body.

Zhong Ling asked: "If you don't take the cuffs off, how can I write a letter?"  SiKong Xuan replied: "A weird girl like you, writing a letter probably would lead to more tricks.  Just gave Mr. Duan something on you that proves that his words are true and that would do."

Zhong Ling laughed and said: "I hate writing, so happy to hear that you don't want me to write.  What do I have on me?  Um, Big Brother Duan, take the pair of shoes that I have on.  My mom and dad will recognize those."

Duan Yu nodded and bent down to take off her shoes.  As his left hand held her barefoot, feeling its fine skin and smoothness, his heart shook and he couldn't help but look up at her face.  They smiled at each other.  Under the fire light, he sees that there are still tears on her cheeks and yet her eyes are filled with happiness.  He was spellbound.

SiKong Xuan is getting a little impatient, so he shouted: "Go already!  What are you 2 kids doing staring at each other?  Brother Duan, get done with it already.  When you get the person here, then of course I would let the girl go so she can be your wife.  Then you'll have plenty of time to feel her foot."

Duan Yu and Zhong Ling both blushed like crazy.  Duan Yu hurriedly took of Zhong Ling's shoes and put them in his shirt.  But he still can't refrain from taking another look at Zhong Ling.  At this, Zhong Ling let out a coquettish laugh.

SiKong Xuan spoke up again: "Brother Duan, please go and come quickly! All of our lives is in your hands. If there is some hold up then none of us will live. Miss Zhong, how long does it take to get to your dad's place?" Zhong Ling answered: "Two days if he hurries. I would say he would be back in 4 days at the most." SiKong Xuan felt a little better, but still urged: "Then go quickly!"

Zhong Ling spoke up: "I'm going to tell Big Brother Duan how to go, all of you get away. I don't want any of you listening in." SiKong Xuan waved his hand and all the clan members walked away. Zhong Ling added: "You too." SiKong Xuan thought to himself: "Once I'm cured, if I don't show you little baby a little something. Then SiKong Xuan has mistaken himself for a man!" But he got up and walked off.

Zhong Ling sighed: "Big Brother Duan, we have only met today, and already we have to be separated." Duan Yu smiled and replied: "It's only for 4 days, no big deal really."

Zhong Ling stared at Duan Yu with the 2 big eyes of hers for a while. Finally, she said: "First go see my mom, tell her about the situation and let her go talk to my dad. This way it'll be much easier." She then drew out directions to her home on the ground with her feet. As it turns out, Zhong Ling lives in a valley on the west shore of the LanCang River, not very far away. It is very well hidden and the entrance has several traps, switches, and secret codes. Without specific directions, it is very hard to find and enter the valley. Duan Yu always had a good memory and easily memorized all the direction that Zhong Ling gave him. After she finished, he said: "Alright, I'm going now." He turned around and started to walk.

After about 10 steps or so, Zhong Ling suddenly remembered something and called out: "Hey! Come back here!" Duan Yu asked: "What?" Zhong Ling said to him after he walked back: "Don't say that your surname is Duan, and especially don't say that your dad knows '1 Yang Zhi'. Because... Because my dad might start getting ideas." Duan Yu smiled and thought that this little girl is just worrying too much, but it is all in good intentions towards him. So he just said "Alright." as he turned and walked off.