Chapter 12

You Jiao stretched again with lazy languor and then whined, “But I really don’t want to read anymore! Being an Emperor is such hard work, I couldn’t care for this job. Wet nurse, what do you think I should do?” Madam Ke was waiting for this exact question. She suggested, “I’ve heard that Liu Ting Yuan, the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War is very capable, why not ask him to lead the troops?” You Jiao exclaimed, “Okay! Liu Ting Yuan it is then!” and then picked up the vermilion brush [1] to brand his instructions on the memorial, after of which he grinned and said, “Wet nurse, from now on, you read these things for me and whatever you say, I’ll instruct it as so!”

Madam Ke’s sole purpose behind pushing You Jiao to read these memorials was to make him feel annoyed and pressured so she can then take advantage of the situation and grasp the reins of power into her own hands. Therefore hearing him say these words sent her heart bursting with joy even though her face did not reveal a glimmer of these emotions. Instead, she knitted her eyebrows together and said with a frown, “My dear boy You, this is one responsibility that I dare not take on. If anything happens, those people from the DongLin Group would tear me apart!” You Jiao had to assure, “Don’t worry! I won’t mention it to anyone” before Madam Ke broke out into a sweet smile while she cooed, “Then why don’t you go to sleep? I’ll finish reading the rest of these memorials for you.” But she was suddenly interrupted by You Jiao blurting out, “Xiong Ting Bi is an official of absolute and unquestionable loyalty!”

It turns out that he had picked up an ink brush pen and was scribbling away on a piece of paper while uttering these words. Although his writing was wobbly and crooked, yet the words on the page were written large and clear, so large that even Yue Ming Ke hiding on the eaves could read them clearly. What he saw was that You Jiao had filled up his whole paper with the sentence “Xiong Ting Bi is an official of absolute and unquestionable loyalty,” repeated over and over again seven or eight times.

Startled, Madam Ke smiled and asked, “How would you know that Xiong Ting Bi is an official of absolute and unquestionable loyalty?” You Jiao replied, “When my father was alive, he would always say these words to me. He said that had it not been for Xiong Ting Bi who guarded the frontiers against the foreign invaders for us, those Tartars would have charged straight into the palace a long time ago! So when my father was gravely ill, he sent orders to Xiong and bade him to return to the capital. I just saw the memorial that Xiong Ting Bi sent to us half a month ago which reported that he had already taken off for the journey and estimates that he should be arriving here on the twenty-eighth. The twenty-eighth is just three days away! Do you think I should go out of the palace to personally receive him?”

Hearing this news left Yue Ming Ke to be both worried and elated. He was worried because Xiong Ting Bi was returning to the capital at a time when the ImperialPalace was in the midst of a tumultuous power struggle. With the prime minister Fang Cong Zhe and Wei Zhong Xian bribing people from within and outside of the palace to join their clan in committing villainous crimes and the Emperor being under the control of Madam Ke, Yue Ming Ke was afraid that they would be inducing harm upon Xiong Ting Bi. Yet at the same time, he was rejoicing in the comfort of knowing that he would be seeing his Grand Master in just three days when he suddenly remembered that Zhuo Yi Hang had also arranged a meeting with him in three days. Struck by this reminder, Yue thought to himself: What a strange coincidence! Brother Zhuo specifically designated a “three day” interval for our meeting and this just so happens to coincide with the three day mark of Military Commissioner Xiong’s expected arrival!

Madam Ke took a sip of the Ginseng soup and then eyed You Jiao askance while she smiled and said, “Look at you, didn’t you just say that you did not want to stress over these kind of matters? And yet here you are, getting all involved and strained. The late Emperor has just passed away and you won’t even have completed your seven days of mourning when the twenty-eighth rolls around. You can’t leave the palace right now, so just let him come here to pay his respects to you. My dear boy, you must be so tired. You should go to bed now!”

You Jiao did originally want to go to sleep, but thinking of Xiong Ting Bi reminded him of another matter which caused him to remark, “When I was skimming over these memorials just a moment ago, I noticed that eight to nine-tenths of them were incriminating documents charging Xiong Ting Bi with crimes. Since Xiong Ting Bi is an official of absolute and unquestionable loyalty, then that means all these other officials who are incriminating him must be crooked officials! Tomorrow when I sit on the throne for the daily court processions, I’m going to interrogate them one by one. You write down all their names on a piece of paper for me alright?”

Yue Ming Ke was secretly musing over how the little Emperor was actually not ignorant in handling this matter when Madam Ke jumped up with alarm and hurriedly insisted, “We live in the inner palaces and don’t know about the stuff that happens outside. Even if the late Emperor said that Xiong Ting Bi was a loyal official, yet we can’t guarantee that he wasn’t hogging power or disregarding authority in other ways. Since there are so many people who are incriminating him, then he must have wronged in some way.” You Jiao asked, “Then are you saying that I should be punishing Xiong Ting Bi? If my father’s spirit knew of this in the underworld, he most definitely would not agree to it.” Madam Ke replied, “Ignoring both sides would be the best strategy. If you impeach all those officials who are incriminating Xiong Ting Bi, then where are you supposed to find such a large number of officials to replace them and help you manage the government in the meantime?” You Jiao cocked his head over to one side and thought over these words briefly before replying, “Fine. Then toss all those memorials into a big bin and send them all over to Xiong Ting Bi!”

Madam Ke clucked, “Fine, fine, now hurry off to bed” while she scrunched up the piece of paper You Jiao was writing on earlier and discarded it underneath the table. After Madam Ke had tidied up and put away his memorials, she took him by the hand and led him towards his bed. You Jiao suddenly made a very strange face as he said, “Li Xuan Shi wants to crown an Empress for me!” Li Xuan Shi was Guang Zhong Chang Luo’s favourite concubine and since You Jiao’s mother died early, she took care of his matters like his mother. Madam Ke laughed and said, “Congratulations my Lord! My little baby has finally grown up.” You Jiao cried, “I don’t want an Empress! I want wet nurse you to be my Empress! Wet nurse, you’re so beautiful! Your daughter looks just like your little sister but when she stands next to you, she’s not even as good-looking as you are!” Madam Ke scoffed, “Crazy words!” as she opened up the doors to the bedroom and went inside with You Jiao.

Yue Ming Ke glided down to the floor and had just managed to pick up the ball of scrunched up paper from beneath the table when he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening, causing him to hurriedly spring onto the roof beams right at the moment that the doors flew open and a voluptuous young girl stepped foot inside the room. Yue Ming Ke was thinking to himself: why would this girl dare to be so audacious? She didn’t even bother to knock before she barged in!

Madam Ke was heard to call out from within the bedroom, “Is it Ting er?” while the young girl answered, “Ma” in return. After a brief moment, Madam Ke came out from the bedroom and lightly closed the door behind her before whispering, “Lower your voice a bit, the Emperor has just fallen asleep.” The young girl said, “Eunuch Wei said that the Emperor was at our place, which was why I rushed over here immediately.”

This young girl was the daughter of Madam Ke and her name was Ke Ping Ting. Before Wei Zhong Xian became a eunuch, he and Madam Ke were actually old lovers and after Madam Ke had an illicit affair with him, they ended up conceiving a baby girl, who became this Ke Ping Ting. This was why when Shen Zong passed away and Wei Zhong Xian obtained power, he immediately had their daughter sent for and brought over here for Madam Ke. However, Ke Ping Ting was not aware of the fact that Wei Zhong Xian was her real father.

Madam Ke pulled her daughter down onto the seat beside her and smiled, “My silly child, what did you come for? Is it because you wanted to win the Empress’ crown? It’s too bad you weren’t born into that kind of good fortune. Even though the Emperor would listen to my words, yet the candidate for the Empress must traditionally be someone belonging to the ranks of nobility or upper class gentility. It’s too bad that none of our ancestors ever became officials, but what can we do? To have you be just a lowly concubine is something I wouldn’t want. But don’t worry my darling, I promise that I will find you a good husband.”

Ke Ping Ting blushed deeply and pouted, “Mother, stop joking around. I have serious matters to discuss with you. Have you spoken to the Emperor yet? ShiGong said that it wasn’t very convenient for him to secretly hide out here in the palace, so he wants to secure the Military Commissioner of the Imperial Bodyguards position for himself.” Madam Ke replied, “I haven’t had time to mention that yet.” Ke Ping Ting urged, “ShiGong has already bestowed a sword manual to me. If you don’t put in a word for him, I’ll be placed in a very hard spot.” Madam Ke laughed and said, “It’s not like this is some kind of big deal, what are you getting so worried about my dear child? I will put in a word for you tomorrow morning alright? I promise.”

Finding this all very strange, Yue Ming Ke mused to himself: This little girl is actually a practitioner of the sword and even has a ShiGong? Ke Ping Ting suddenly asked, “Ma, can you lend the Dragon Springs sword to me for a look?” Madam Ke snapped, “Don’t mention that sword again. That sword almost got me into serious trouble!” Ke Ping Ting insisted, “Does it really matter if I just take a little peak?” Madam Ke warned, “But you must not take the sword away for use.”

Ke Ping Ting continued, “I heard ShiGong and Commander MuRong say that though there were many treasured swords within the palace, yet this sword was the most superior of them all. As for the rest, they couldn’t even compare with the Gliding Dragon Sword that Eunuch Wei had newly acquired!” The slight traces of surprise and alarm appeared on Madam Ke’s face while she mumbled to herself, “No wonder that kid was so concern about it!” She continued to mumble away as she was simultaneously unlocking the secret compartment to the closet. Meanwhile, having heard them talk about his treasured sword, Yue Ming Ke was concentrating his full attention on Madam Ke’s every move when he suddenly felt a light breeze blow his way. He turned towards this source only to discover a wave of glinting silver hurtling straight towards him!

With a sweep of his sleeve, Yue Ming Ke shot down the storm of plum-blossom needles [2] and then immediately jumped down to the floor. Ke Ping Ting screamed loudly, “Assassin!” and Madam Ke leapt up in fright when she recognized that it was Yue Ming Ke. Ke Ping Ting reassured her by calling out, “Don’t worry Ma, I’ll capture him for you!” but Madam Ke pressed a switch on the wall and immediately disappeared behind a hidden compartment. Meanwhile, Ke Ping Ting picked a sword up at random and then with a swipe of her blade, pierced towards Yue Ming Ke.

Yue Ming Ke was greatly taken back! He was taken back not because the young girl’s swordsmanship was masterful, but because the sword skill she was executing turned out to be none other than the stances found in Yu Luo Cha’s exclusive sword art! While he consecutively dodged three stances, sounds of clamouring broke out from outside the room. With a “Boat Crosses Autumn Waves,” Yue slashed towards her wrist while the two fingers on his left hand pierced towards her eyes. Although Ke Ping Ting’s martial arts was not bad, yet this was nevertheless the first time that she has come across such a powerful opponent and therefore the minute fear entered her heart, the long sword that she clutched in her hand was snatched away by Yue Ming Ke. She hurriedly jumped over to one side, causing a sword manual to suddenly drop to the floor! Yue Ming Ke hurriedly picked it up and by then the guards have already arrived outside the door!

Although the sword that Yue Ming Ke had in his hand was not the precious Dragon Springs sword, yet it was still a remarkably sharp weapon and thus by just randomly throwing out a swipe with his sword, Yue caused the guard’s single-edge broadsword to be broken into two pieces. With a lift of his right foot, Yue kicked the other guard right back out the door while he himself glided up to the eaves and then with another twist, landed on the tiles of the roof before accelerating away with haste.

After he had darted past a few towers and palace halls, he suddenly heard the cries of “Catch the assassin!” reverberate from all around him! Yue Ming Ke hurriedly dodged into a cluster of flower bushes just as a few dozen guards swarmed out from all four directions. Yet surprisingly, the place they pursued towards was not the Wet Nurse mansion of where he had wrecked havoc! Finding it all very strange, Yue Ming Ke leaped onto the top of a tree for a better look.

What he saw from afar was a black shadow exploding out from nowhere and with the ferocious speed of a shooting meteoroid, that figure hurtled right out from within the inner palaces to blast past the Hall of Preserving Harmony, Hall of Middle Harmony and Hall of Supreme Harmony, tearing through all three of the main outer palace halls before it suddenly vanished! The blinding speed of this person’s movements was like nothing of what he’s seen before! This exhibit of levitation skills was not the least bit below that of his own, leaving Yue Ming Ke to be greatly shocked for he did not expect that there would be someone else other than himself who would dare to charge into the ImperialPalace in the dead of the night.

The guards spread out and searched the ImperialPalace for about an hour before they gradually started to disperse. When Yue Ming Ke noticed two guards running back and forth in patrol, he suddenly thought to himself: why don’t I capture one of them and ask? Therefore he suddenly pounced out from behind the bushes and extended both his arms to attack his two opponents’ acupoints with lightning speed. As expected, the guard on the left side immediately collapsed with a thud as he came into contact with Yue’s finger. But the guard on the right side instantaneously counteracted this move by bending backwards and then flipped his hands over in a hook to actually clamp down on Yue Ming Ke’s wrist!

Yue stabilized his weight and pulled back, yet not only was he unable to budge his opponent by an inch, but he was furthermore pushed back by the power of his opponent’s resistance! Extremely startled, Yue immediately took out his long sword and then with a brand of his blade, proceeded to pierce out. Without so much as a grunt, that man twisted his body around and then slashed down with both his palms to attack Yue’s blind spot. With a quiver of his sword’s blade, Yue re-directed his attack towards his opponent’s lower abdomen. Such a move was fast and agile beyond means, but with a grunt and a crouch, his opponent slid right beneath Yue’s blade to pass over to the other side. Having just retracted his palms, his opponent immediately struck out again, causing the forceful blast coming from his strike to slice right past Yue’s ear! The pure intensity of his opponent’s internal energy and the sheer speed with which he changed his stances were all something of which Yue Ming Ke has rarely ever encountered before in battle!

Although Yue Ming Ke may be shaken, yet the man he was battling with was even more alarmed! This man was the Head Instructor of the East Faction guards and the number one fighter within the ImperialPalace. His name was MuRong Chong. Possessing the supreme skills belonging to both the internal and outer schools of martial arts has enabled him to remain matchless during the last few dozen years. But within the ImperialPalace tonight, there occurred two consecutive cases of an assassin’s intrusion!

The levitation skills of the assassin discovered in front of the Gate of the Divine Warrior was above that of his own and therefore prevented him from catching up. But at least he could still assert that they did not yet have the opportunity to exchange stances and that way his famed reputation could still be said to have remained relatively unscathed. This assassin on the other hand has already greeted him with three sword stances, every one of them lethal to the point of where MuRong Chong found himself under the actual risk of being stabbed! Furthermore, this assassin was wearing a uniform belonging to the guards of the Eastern Faction, which meant that one of his men must have undergone harm already. Thus if he couldn’t capture him today, how could he possibly face his fellow troops in the future?

Even though both fighters were harbouring caution and anxiety within their hearts, yet their movements were not the least bit hindered as they exchanged over a dozen stances in just a blink of an eye!

On observing how the man just battled away in silence without attempting to alert others by unleashing so much as a sound caused a suspicious thought to suddenly dawn upon Yue Ming Ke and induced him to whisper in a low voice, “Hey! Which turf do you belong to my friend? I’m not a palace guard so don’t take me for the wrong person!” When Yue Ming Ke observed how the man did not call out to his fellow guards for help, he reasoned that this man must be in the same predicament as himself and was someone who had secretly stole into the ImperialPalace. But what he did not know was that because MuRong Chong resided in the position of Eastern Faction guards’ head instructor, he had always prided himself as being invincible in his martial arts. This was why having discovered an “assassin,” he wanted to capture him with his very own hands so as to claim full credit. He was afraid that if the other guards arrived, they would end up taking away a share of his glory and therefore remained hesitant in summoning for back up.

Speaking out in order to voice his suspicions divided up Yue Ming Ke’s concentration ever so slightly, yet just that little bit of hesitation was already enough to induce an effect on the speed of his sword skill. Seizing the opportunity, MuRong Chong attacked through this opening and with a loud boom, landed a concrete punch on Yue Ming Ke’s shoulder! Even though his internal energy was already substantially solid, yet Yue Ming Ke still could not stop himself from convulsing a few times before he was eventually able to swallow up his pain and retaliate with another swipe. After succeeding in this one stance, MuRong Chong accelerated the intensity of his attack and stormed forward with even more ferocity! But having sustained a punch, Yue Ming Ke was gradually forced to the point of where he was starting to have difficulty in upholding the battle.

Another twenty or thirty stances were exchanged, but by then the palace guards belonging to the Palace of Heavenly Purity have already heard the sounds of combat and were all hastening towards their direction. MuRong Chong was anxious to receive full credit for Yue’s capture and thus hastily executed a hook punch with his left hand while simultaneously generating a soft palm with his right hand. Forced to bend backwards, Yue Ming Ke hurriedly slashed his long sword towards his opponent’s legs just as the force of MuRong’s palm and fist strikes blasted by the tip of his nose with an icy gust. MuRong Chong leaped high into the air so the blade of Yue’s sword only ended up slashing through the leg of his trousers, but leaning over to one side, Yue Ming Ke was right in the midst of whipping out another sword swipe when MuRong Chong suddenly screamed out in pain! Then with a flip of his body, MuRong Chong immediately ran away while a shadow suddenly snuck out from a pitch-black corner and pulled Yue Ming Ke behind the rock of an artificial landscape mountain.

This person just happened to be Cheng Kun. Being the Monitor of the Palace Guardsmen, he was of course a fighter of first rate abilities. But hiding in the cave all by himself caused the time to drag by so slowly that he was driven to the point of panicking with fear. Thus when the sounds of commotion coming from outside sliced through the silence, he secretly snuck back out to discover MuRong Chong patrolling back and forth on his search mission. Although Cheng Kun’s martial arts were somewhat below that of MuRong Chong’s, yet had this been any other day, he would not have been in a position of where he should feel threatened by MuRong. But at this place and time, he was so alarmed that he had to once again hide behind the rock of an artificial landscape mountain. Coincidently, the spot of where he had dodged to just happened to be located not far from where Yue Ming Ke was hiding.

Yue Ming Ke snuck out and started to combat with MuRong Chong not long afterwards, but since Cheng Kun has not yet recuperated from the brutal torture that was inflicted upon him during the earlier part of the day, he thus hurriedly began to circulate his inner Qi. After a while, he witnessed how Yue Ming Ke had sustained a punch and was starting to edge towards the face of defeat, thus secretly broke off a few sticks of bamboo and then by using the most supreme projectile technique known as “lashing leaves, pelting petals, exterminating upon immediate contact,” he fired out the bamboo leaves.

Since MuRong Chong was only able to equal Yue Ming Ke in terms of martial art skills, when he suddenly discovered that there was a skilled fighter ambushed nearby he was immediately worried that this would cause him sustain an injury right there on the spot. Furthermore, even if his companions did manage to arrive in time, such a predicament would only cause him to lose all face. Therefore with a whip of his body, MuRong Chong hurriedly fled from the scene.

After Cheng Kun pulled Yue Ming Ke behind the rock of the artificial landscape mountain, he whispered “Follow me,” and then weaved through a cluster of artificial mountains before suddenly lifting away a huge rock to reveal the opening to a dark, oppressive cave. Cheng Kun and Yue Ming Ke stepped inside to catch their breaths just as a ruckus was heard to break out once again.

Cheng Kun whispered, “From here, we can cut straight out to the Imperial Rivers located outside the palace. That way, there would be no need to exit through the West Flowery Gate.” Yue Ming Ke asked, “Does nobody else know about this secret passage?” Cheng Kun replied, “This secret passage was constructed by the late Emperor when he was still residing in the Palaces of the East end. There were only five guards in total who knew of its existence. Since the late Lord’s death, we Palace Guardsmen have already lost all power, so I doubt that they would be willing to work for Wei Zhong Xian and risk the danger of coming to this passage for a search.”

The two of them expedited along the passage and as predicted, did not come across any impediments nor did they hear any sounds of pursuing troops chasing up from behind them. Not long afterwards, the lapping currents of the rushing water could be heard. Cheng Kun opened up a secret doorway and caused the river’s water to seep into the passage. Yue Ming Ke was just about to dive outside when Cheng Kun shouted, “Wait!” and lifted his hand to press a switch on the stone walls. Only then was Yue Ming Ke able to discover that located outside of the cave was a rapidly spinning bronze wheel composed completely of sharp blades. After a while, the speed of the spinning blades started to gradually slow down and eventually came to a complete halt.

Cheng Kun closed the secret passageway behind him and snuck out from in between the sharp blades with Yue Ming Ke. After they made it to shore, Cheng Kun looked towards the skies and said, “It will soon be dawn and then it won’t be convenient for us to run about in these wet clothes. Dong Fang’s home is just around the corner, why don’t we go to his place and change into another set of clothing? I also have some words to say to Madam Dong.”

Although Dong Fang was the assistant of Cheng Kun, yet Dong Fang’s wife who also happened to be a member of the martial arts world was aware that her husband and Cheng Kun have never gotten along on the best of terms. Therefore when she saw Cheng Kun bring in another Imperial guard the moment she opened the door, she couldn’t refrain from jumping back in alarm while they both rushed in, soaked from head to toe. Cheng Kun urged, “Sister, please close the doors behind you! I have something to tell you.”

Thus Cheng Kun went on and narrated to Dong Fang’s wife the details of how Dong had rescued him in the face of danger but as a result ended up falling victim to a furtive attack. She was well aware of the fact that Cheng Kun never lies and therefore burst into tears as she wailed, “I’ve long told him not to work in this stinking Palace Guardsmen job, if only he had followed my father into the escort business, such a lifestyle would have been so much more carefree. But he wouldn’t listen to me and now look at what happened?!” Cheng Kun assured, “Sister, there’s no need to cry yet. Although the two of us never got along very well, yet I am eternally indebted to him for placing himself in danger in order to save me. I give you my word and promise that I will free your husband from the palace and return him to you!” Madam Deng choked back her tears and looked up at him with wide eyed suspicion. Her sceptical expression seemed to be questioning, “You can’t even solve your own problems! How are you to save my husband?”

Cheng Kun continued, “Bring me a pen and some paper and I will write a letter for you. Tomorrow, all you have to do is bring this letter to the Commander of the Imperial Bodyguards Shi Hao and tell him to deliver this letter into Wei Zhong Xian’s hands for you. Once Wei Zhong Xian sees this letter, he would no longer dare to murder your husband regardless of how gutsy he may be.” The reasoning behind this request immediately dawned on Yue Ming Ke, causing him to exclaim “Of course! As long as Brother Cheng is still alive, Wei Zhong Xian most definitely would not dare to murder Brother Dong.”

By then, Madam Dong had also comprehended Cheng Kun’s reasoning. She knew that Cheng Kun was aware of the many dark secrets of the ImperialPalace, including how Wei Zhong Xian and Madam Ke were dirtying up the palace halls and secretly eradicating those in opposition to them. None of these dark skeletons were able to escape Cheng Kun’s detection and furthermore, there were still many guards within the Imperial Palace who were his friends and thus if he used these points as his threat, there was no way that Wei Zhong Xian could afford to not exercise caution.

After Cheng Kun had finished writing his letter, Madam Dong said, “I have already prepared two sets of clothing for the both of you. Please excuse its threadbare simplicity.” Cheng Kun and Yue Ming Ke thus went into the guest room and after closing the doors behind them, took off their wet clothing. Concealed within Cheng Kun’s wet clothes were a pair of gloves and after studying over it intently from top to bottom and then from front to back, Cheng Kun placed it on the table with cherished fondness and solemn reverence.

Earlier, when Yue Ming Ke picked up the ball of scrunched up paper that the Emperor had written on, he immediately placed it underneath his many layers of clothing so that it was pressed right up against his bare skin. As a result, the paper has luckily not been soaked through completely. He thus hurriedly lighted up an oil lamp and then spread out the piece of paper over the lampshade in order to dry it off.

After he had finished changing his clothes, Cheng Kun suddenly stated, “Brother Yue, the excellence of your martial arts belongs to a level of supremacy that your humble brother I can never match up to. You have saved my life and yet there is nothing I can possibly do to repay you during this lifetime. Please be kind enough to take these gloves as my token of gratitude.” Yue Ming Ke exclaimed, “Brother Cheng, why do you say these words?” and though he initially wanted to refuse, yet on observing how genuine the sentiments behind his sincere offer was and further taking into consideration that a pair of gloves was not something that was particularly expensive or priceless, Yue Ming Ke therefore accepted his offer.

It was only after making sure that Yue Ming Ke had taken over his gloves did Cheng Kun finally explain, “Brother Yue, this pair of gloves was a gift bestowed upon me by the late Emperor. They say that it was knitted together using the fur of the Golden Silk Ape as well as the white leather thread of the Black Dragon Creek. Not only can it provide as an impenetrable shield to protect one against the blades of sabre and spears, but it can also function as an impermeable skin to render one immune against poisonous toxins and deadly substances. Using it to execute the Overcoming Sharp Blade with Bare Hands technique would be the most ideal!”

Yue Ming Ke exclaimed with alarm, “Why didn’t you say so before? How could I possibly accept such a priceless gift?” and hurriedly took out the gloves again. Cheng Kun laughed and said, “When the gentleman offers his word, it is as irrevocable as the charge of a whipped stallion in flight! You’ve already promised to accept my humble gift, how could you take back your words now?” Yue Ming Ke had no other choice and could therefore only express yet another round of gratitude before placing the gloves into his possession with the utmost care and appreciation.

By then, the pale white gleam resembling the sheen of a fish’s stomach had already started to break through the Eastern horizon. Madam Dong went out and hired a horse carriage to quietly transport Cheng Kun and Yue Ming Ke away while she herself started to travel towards the ImperialPalace.

Yue Ming Ke instructed the coachman to drive the carriage over to the Secretary of the Ministry of War, Yang Lian’s home, causing Cheng Kun to remark, “Oh! So that’s where you were staying. Yang Lian is a good official, they most likely won’t dare to be too unheeded in their actions.” Yue Ming Ke asked, “What do you mean?” but Cheng Kun just asked back in return, “Did anybody know that you were staying at the Yang residence?” Yue Ming Ke replied, “The people who knew weren’t many. I never expected so many things to happen when I arrived in the capital and therefore did not take caution in keeping my whereabouts a secret.” Cheng Kun sighed and then whispered softly by Yue’s ear, “I’m afraid they already know where you were staying.” Yue Ming Ke asked, “How do you know?” Cheng Kun replied, “The day before yesterday, right before Wei Zhong Xian locked me up, I overheard some guards of the Eastern faction discussing amongst each other, saying something about keeping an eye on the Yang family. I was curious then as to why they would want to do that, but now it’s clear that it was due to the fact that you were staying there.”

This filled Yue Ming Ke full of dread and anxiety as they hurriedly hastened towards the Yang mansion. By the time they arrived there, the skies had already brightened completely. Cheng Kun snuck a peek outside to make sure that there were no familiar looking faces before he got off the carriage with Yue Ming Ke. Right away the doors to the Yang household flew wide open as the servants of the Yang family came out hollering, “Master Yue has return!”

Yue Ming Ke and Cheng Kun dashed towards the main hall only to discover Yang Lian sitting up straight in the middle of the room, thundering with rage, “The world’s coming to an end!” causing Yue Ming Ke to hurriedly inquire about what happened. Yang Lian replied, “I reside as a high official in the Ministry of War, can you believe that there would actually be bandits vicious enough to target in on my very own home?!” Yue Ming Ke asked, “Did you lose anything?” Yang Lian replied, “It’s not the materialistic things that I care about. Those bandits only took away some antiques, but your friend was kidnapped away by them!”

Hearing this piece of news shook Yue Ming Ke down to his very soul and shattered his spirit into a million pieces. Although Tie Shan Hu and him may not be the most compatible pair in terms of personal interests and ideals, yet having journeyed such long distances together, their relationship was already as close as that of siblings. After he calmed his nerves down, Yue asked, “How many bandits were there?” Yang Lian replied, “I think about seven or eight? They were all masked! Your friend came out and started to battle with them, but was outnumbered and ended being captured.” Yue Ming Ke thought to himself: these bandits must without a doubt be Wei Zhong Xian’s men. Yet he didn’t want to voice these suspicions out loud for he was afraid that it would only end up scaring Yang Lian and burden him with additional worries. Therefore, he just said, “Uncle, let your unworthy nephew ask some friends from the martial arts world to investigate into this incident for you.”

Yang Lian continued, “There have never been such wild and unruly criminals who dared to show their face in the Imperial capital. I’m going to go over to the Ministry of War’s Yamen [3] and demand that they alert the Supreme Commander of the Nine Gates so I can interrogate him on what kind of job he’s doing. It’s good that you’ve return, keep an eye out for my home while I’m away.” Then after leaving orders for his servants to be on alert and to keep guard over the house and its inhabitants, he stormed off in an angry rage to make a personal appearance at the Ministry of War.

After Yue Ming Ke and Cheng Kun went inside the guest room, Cheng Kun immediately stated, “This must be the work of the Eastern faction guards. Who is your friend and what is his name? I’ll ask around for you.” Yue Ming Ke snarled, “I’m going to go into the palace and give them hell.” Cheng Kun shook his head and warned, “Don’t do that. You’ve already caused a huge commotion on two separate occasions, they will most definitely be tightening their security this time. Aside from MuRong Chong, I’ve heard that there are two other skilled fighters who have newly arrived to the ImperialPalace. Even I was only able to hear of this through bits and pieces, so their identities are not even known. But judging from the looks of things, they must be Jianghu fighters of extremely high positions. Brother Yue, if you risk the danger of stealing into the ImperialPalace once again, I’m afraid that you’ll only end up surrendering to their trap. I still have some good friends working within the ImperialPalace. In a few days when everything dies down a bit, I’ll secretly investigate into this matter for you.”

Having thought over Cheng Kun’s words, Yue Ming Ke really had to admit that he had no choice but to listen to Cheng’s suggestion and therefore asked, “Then do you think they would be coming here again? I’m afraid that even if we don’t go around giving them trouble, they’d still come around here searching for us.” Cheng Kun said, “As they say in military treatises, that which appears false is in actuality true, and that which appears to possess substantiality is in fact an illusive disguise. After this whole series of incidents, they wouldn’t think that you would dare to return to the Yang mansion and that is exactly why we should stay right here. Since they don’t have any personal scores of vengeance with Yang Lian, they most likely won’t be venturing over here again. Besides, even if they do come, with our martial arts, we can capture one or two of them right here on the spot and then force our way outside while causing a ruckus big enough to make the whole world take notice. If they want a fight, we’ll give them a fight!” Yue Ming Ke cried, “Alright! That’s what we’ll do then!”

When Yang Lian returned home night that night, he said to Yue Ming Ke, “The Supreme Commander of the Nine Gates has issued a search and arrest order for these criminals. I demanded that he have this case solved within ten days” causing Yue to secretly chuckle to himself, “If you leave this case to the Supreme Commander of the Nine Gates, I’m afraid that it’ll still remain unsolved even in ten years’ time!” After Yang Lian had a chance to catch his breath, he suddenly continued, “This whole incident is driving me mad with anger, but luckily, I still have some good news left to tell you.”

Yue Ming Ke asked, “What good news?” and Yang Lian proceeded to explain, “Today when I went to the Military Department’s Yamen, I received a special message from Military Commissioner Xiong that was delivered posthaste by the means of a messenger riding on a horse that travels eight hundred miles a day. In his letter he said that he expects to arrive at the capital by the day after tomorrow and so he asks me to relate this message onto the other colleagues of the Military Department. He also mentioned in his letter that he plans to stay at my humble residence. This is all such great news! The whole government is currently in a chaotic state of corruption, we really need him to come back and take care of matters.”

Yue Ming Ke had already learned of Military Commissioner Xiong’s expected return last night, but having this news further validated right now filled his heart with equal elation. He then remarked, “Although Military Commissioner Xiong may possess a great deal of military power, yet he is nevertheless a non-cabinet official. I’m afraid that he won’t be able to interfere with the matters of the council chamber.” Yang Lian said, “Though in terms of ranking, his position may not be higher than that of the cabinet council officials, yet he is the epitome of justice and honour, plus he is the possessor of the Royal Sword, so even Fang Cong Zhe and Wei Zhong Xian will have to be afraid of him.”

On the day of Xiong Ting Bi’s scheduled arrival, his good friends such as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhou Jia Mo, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites Sun Shen Xing, Censor-in-Chief [4] Zou Yuan Biao all gathered together at Yang Lian’s home in anticipation of him. The Ministry of War’s Minister Yang Kun was originally supposed to join them as well, but because he was busy organizing military troops to Shaan Xi, he was therefore unable to attend. The group of them began their wait early in the morning, but even by late afternoon, no sound of clanging gongs to signal the parting of the roads or any parading trumpets to announce Xiong’s arrival could yet be heard. Perplexed, Sun Shen Xing suggested, “Could he have changed dates?” Yang Lian asserted, “Xiong Ting Bi would never fall back on his promise.” These words were immediately followed by the housekeeper coming in to report, “Master, there’s two men outside asking to see you. When I asked them for their name, one of them said that his last name was Xiong. I’m afraid that it might be a member of Military Commissioner Xiong’s family, would you like to see him Master?” Yang Lian cried out, “Oh no!” as he jumped to his feet and then ordered with flustered alarm, “Hurry and escort him inside! This must be old Xiong! I know how he is.”

After a short while, a muscular man with the demeanour of a tiger and the eyes of a hawk ran up the stairs, covered from head to toe in the dusts of his long journey. Waiting outside and carrying just one bag of luggage over his back was the one and only attendant that accompanied him. The crowd of officials all stood up and exclaimed, “Military Commissioner Xiong! Why didn’t you prepare us ahead of time?” for who could have expected a legendary general of such shocking fame and authoritative military power to be bringing only one attendant along with him as he traveled all the way from the frontiers back to the Imperial capital?

Xiong Ting Bi laughed and said, “Didn’t I already send someone to deliver a letter two days ago? Why would you say that I didn’t give you any warning?” But what the group of officials meant by “preparation” was of course more than just a letter, still there was nothing more they could do now but joke, “You returning home in such glorified celebration is exactly the sort of elaborate ceremony we’d expect from a big general who is returning home after serving his duty at the frontline.” Xiong Ting Bi bellowed with laughter and said, “Well, I am in truth no more than a big soldier!”

Yue Ming Ke hurriedly came forward to present his reverence while Xiong Ting Bi remarked, “You’re here as well? That’s wonderful! We’ll chat again tonight.” He then brought his attendant forward and introduced him to everyone. The name of this man was Wang Zan, a member belonging to a celebrated school of martial arts and the first disciple of the Sun-Moon Wheel’s Qiu Tai Xu. Already well acquainted with him, Yue Ming Ke came forward to ask, “You didn’t come across any problems along the journey I hope?” Wang Zan laughed and said, “We did come across a few thugs who made a living by ambushing travelers, but when they saw our measly bit of luggage, they left us alone without so much as batting an eye.” Yue Ming Ke chuckled and said, “Then their karma was working in their favour!”

Wasting no time at all, the crowd of officials immediately swarmed around Xiong Ting Bi to pour out the details of all the chaotic mayhem and dark corruption that has been poisoning their government. Xiong Ting Bi remained silent as he took all this in and shook his head once in a while. The various officials were just starting to get warmed up when they were interrupted by a loud clamour coming from outside the door. This was instantaneously followed by the sound of Yang’s housekeeper announcing, “The Imperial Emissary has arrived!” The crowd of officials all retreated inside while Xiong Ting Bi and Yue Ming Ke also situated themselves within the guestroom, leaving Yang Lian to wait in the middle of the hall.

After a while, the big doors flew open as an official wearing a gown embroidered with four-clawed dragons [5] and fastened by a jade belt entered inside. Behind him were a dozen Commandants [6] who also rushed into the room. Yang Lian hurriedly knelt down to receive the announcement of the Imperial edict which only compelled the Imperial Emissary to snap sharply, “This has nothing to do with you. Tell Xiong Ting Bi to come out!”

Xiong Ting Bi turned towards Yue Ming Ke and smiled, “Wow! I barely stepped foot through the door and already they’ve arrived behind me. The Divine Lord may still be young in age, yet it could be seen that he is already quite sagacious! His sense of timing is exactly right!” He was straightening his attire as he was making this comment, and having tidied up his appearance, he immediately stepped foot outside only to be greeted by a sharp order coming from the Imperial Emissary, “Xiong Ting Bi! Kneel down to accept the orders of the Imperial Edict!”

Xiong Ting Bi knelt down in wait of the edict’s orders, but what he heard the Imperial Emissary read was, “The convicted official Xiong Ting Bi has been found guilty in the act of coveting power for personal use and disrespecting of his superiors’ authority. His crimes include that of indulging his troops to disturb the peace of the common people and while having guarded the frontiers for many years, he has failed to make any progress in advancing the frontline. Now, he has furthermore left his post without obtaining prior approval, completely disregarding the governmental regulations to secretly steal back into the Imperial Capital and conspire in rebellion. He is now ordered to return the Royal Sword and is then to be transported to the Court of Supreme Justice to be tried.”

After he finished reading the edict, the Emissary hollered, “Tie him up!” causing Xiong Ting Bi to be so furious that even his beard and eyebrows were standing on end as they stuck out like a bed of sharp spears that bristled with fury while he growled, “I was summoned home by the Late Emperor, what crime is there in that?” The Imperial Emissary barked back, “Haven’t you heard that the anger of the thunder’s strike and the mercy of the rain’s shower are all controlled by the mercy of the heavens? Do you dare go against the holy orders of the present Lord? Just this one crime is already an unpardonable sin!” Xiong Ting Bi blasted with fury, “The Holy Lord is still young and since the power of the government is now grasped within the hands of the villainous officials and malicious crooks, what more could be done?! Forget it! It’s all over! All over!” as he just stood there and prepared to be shackled. Xiong Ting Bi thought that this really was an authentic Imperial edict, thus even though he was extremely infuriated and felt incredibly wronged, he still did not dare to go against the orders of his Holy Lord.

Frozen with shock, Yang Lian could only stand by one side as he watched the Commandants surge forward. They were just about to bind Xiong Ting Bi in the shackles when Yue Ming Ke suddenly ripped out from within the guest rooms with one great leap. With a roar forceful enough to shock the heavens, he thundered loudly, “Hold on!” causing the Imperial Emissary to snarl, “Who are you?” Four commandants proceeded to rush forward, but with a flex of his arms, Yue Ming Ke threw them back more than thirty feet and watched as they tumbled down the steps. The Imperial Emissary screeched loudly, “You dare to start a rebellion in broad daylight?!” which only induced Xiong Ting Bi to become all the more infuriated as he scolded in severity, “Yue Ming Ke! Are you trying to dishonour my name?”

With tears welling up in his piercing eyes, Yue Ming Ke hurriedly explained, “Grand Master! This Imperial edict is a counterfeit!” Xiong Ting Bi was greatly taken back as he questioned, “Counterfeit?” The Imperial Emissary retorted, “Crazy lies!” as he instructed the Commandants to come forward and arrest them. Xiong Ting Bi suddenly unleashed his Royal Sword and roared, “Hold on! Let me get this all straightened out first before I come with you!” The crowd of Commandants all knew that Xiong Ting Bi possessed a dynamic fierceness that could force back a million men and having stood in the wrath of his thundering growl that reigned with majestic solemnity, they suddenly found that they have lost all courage to charge forward. Yue Ming Ke took out a ball of scrunched up paper and after straightening it out, he placed it within the center of his palm and then turned to Yang Lian to ask, “Official Yang, please come here and take a look. Is this, or is this not the authentic handwriting of the present Emperor?”

Whenever an Emperor ascends the throne, Imperial decrees must be sent out to the various ministries in order to provide encouragement and solace for the high officials. Yang Lian came over to take a look and immediately saw the words “Xiong Ting Bi is an official of absolute and unquestionable loyalty” jump out at him, repeated seven or eight times as it filled up the entire piece of paper. The words were wobbly and crooked, but it was indeed the writing of You Jiao. With courage suddenly awoken in his heart, Yang Lian didn’t even bother to ask Yue Ming Ke about where he obtained the paper and immediately burst out with elation, “Official Xiong! This is indeed the handwriting coming out from the hands of our current Holy Emperor!” and then continued to call out, “Fellow officials! Please come out and take a look for yourselves!”

This Imperial Emissary was one of the conspirators belonging to Wei Zhong Xian’s clan, his name was Cui Cheng Xiu and even though he was at a complete loss with what to do right now, he still forced himself to act calm as he hollered, “How could an Imperial edict be fake?” and then rolled out the edict to reveal the brand of the Emperor’s Imperial Jade Seal. Although the writing did not resemble that of You Jiao’s, yet Xiong Ting Bi could discern with just one glance that the stamp of the Jade Seal was indeed authentic. Yue Ming Ke hurriedly added, “The castrated fiend is usurping power and now dares to steal the national seal for his own use. Grand Master, please take this trial right up to the Imperial Courts with him!”

With a derisive sneer, Xiong Ting Bi stated, “Cui Cheng Xiu, I’ll personally go with you to the courts!” The crowd of officials all chimed in, “We’ll come with you!” Cui Cheng Xiu screeched, “Xiong Ting Bi! You dare to belittle the Imperial court and go against the orders of the Emperor? This is a crime big enough to have all your familial possession confiscated and your whole household clan executed!” Xiong Ting Bi said, “No need to say anymore! I will risk death and decapitation to accompany you to the daily Imperial courts!”

An idea suddenly sparked in Cui’s head, causing him to say, “The Holy Emperor is now fulfilling the duties of mourning within the palaces. Even if you wanted to go to the Imperial Courts, you would still have to wait until tomorrow.” He continued upholding his menacing act by threatening, “Yang Lian! Xiong Ting Bi will now be left under your surveillance! If I come back tomorrow to find him gone, you will be held fully responsible!” Having said this, he then took the group of Commandants along with him as they hurriedly retreated. Xiong Ting Bi knew that this rogue would not be able to escape very far and was taking in consideration of the fact that he was after all a non-cabinet official which wouldn’t make it very appropriate for him to arrest Cui right here and now, therefore stopped Yue Ming Ke from detaining them. Cui Cheng Xiu and his men were free to leave the mansion unimpeded, leaving a few of the high officials speechless with angered frustration.

Xiong Ting Bi fell to his chair with a long dejected sigh. Shaking his head, he lamented, “Even if that edict can be proven as a counterfeit, the fact that the conniving fiends within the government would dare to be so unrestrained in carrying out their evil plots already indicates that there is no hope for our country!” The crowd of officials all came forward to offer their consolation and Yang Lian remarked, “Brother Xiong has traveled such far distances in order to return to the capital, please do not let these villainous scoundrels spoil your dynamic spirit! Come, let us all have a drink.”

In the midst of this conversation, loud hollering suddenly broke out from outside as the sound of somebody knocking on the door thundered with earth-splitting fervour! Yang Lian lambasted with fury, “Cui Cheng Xiu actually dares to show his face here again?” but before he could even finish his sentence, the front doors blasted apart and a crowd of people swarmed inside, every one of them had their face masked with a piece of black cloth to reveal only a pair of eyes.

The man who was leading the way shouted loudly, “We’ve heard that the great general Xiong has returned so we’ve come here today to borrow some spending money from him!” Xiong Ting Bi ripped into wild laughter as he said, “My two sleeves are filled only with the empty breezes of the cool winds, where am I to find money?” Yang Lian screamed loudly, “You actually dare to publicly declare burglary under the glare of broad daylight?! Is this world coming to an end?!” Yue Ming Ke said, “These people are not your regular bandits!” while a few dozen bandits surged forward to surround them.

Xiong Ting Bi pushed Yang Lian inside a room and the “bandit” leader extended his hands to grasp out. With a loud roar, Xiong Ting Bi brandished out his treasured sword, but with a slant of his body the “bandit” blocked off the attack with just one strike of his palm, causing Xiong Ting Bi to remonstrate, “Don’t you think you’re putting your remarkable skills to waste by being a bandit?” Yue Ming Ke intercepted with a side strike and followed by saying, “MuRong Chong, do you want to live or not?” Jolted by this sudden shock, the bandit hesitated briefly while Xiong Ting Bi asked, “Ming Ke, do you know him?” Having had his identity revealed, MuRong Chong screamed out, “Finish them all off!” as the few dozen first rate fighters of the Eastern Faction surged forward like a great tidal wave, pushing both Xiong and Yue back up against the wall.

It turns out that the announcement of the Imperial edict and the attack of bandits were all part of a plan concocted by Wei Zhong Xian and Madam Ke who were trying to secretly exterminate Xiong Ting Bi behind the Emperor’s back.

With a swing of his five-element wheel, Wang Zan dashed out from within the rooms. One of the guards branded his whip and attempted to strike him down, but with just a spin of his wheel, Wang snapped the guard’s whip into two pieces and caused it to fly out of his hands. Suddenly, an old man arose from amongst the crowd of guards. He fired out with his two palms, the intensity conjured up by his palms’ strikes blazing forward with crushing force, shocking Wang’s five-element wheel over to one side.

Yue Ming Ke kept his back against the wall and lashed out with his sword. With a half twist of his feet, the old man’s left palm smashed down towards Yue’s head with the stance “Thundering Bolt Flashes Overhead” and under the bright light of the cloudless day, everything could be discerned clearly – the palms of this old man were stained the colour of a vermillion red!

Yue Ming Ke declared loud and clear, “Old freak Jin! So you’ve come as well?” The old man cackled loudly and did away with all disguises by ripping off his face cloth and tossing it over to one side as he hissed, “Yue Ming Ke! Today I will avenge that one scar wound you left on me!” Yue Ming Ke called out, “Grand Master, this old crook practices the Venomous Palms, don’t let him touch you!” all the while swirling his sword around with tempestuous fury and standing guard in front of Xiong Ting Bi. But MuRong Chong and Jin Du Yi each stood by one side and attacked simultaneously, forcing Yue Ming Ke into an extremely dangerous position!

With a fiery glare, Xiong Ting Bi thundered, “Dirty Rats! How dare you?” and then suddenly exploded with colossal force by picking up a guard and tossing him right out the door! The guards were all frozen with panic, compelling MuRong Chong to urge, “Don’t be afraid of him!” and then by executing the Joint Lock technique, he came forward to snatch Xiong Ting Bi’s treasured sword! Although Xiong Ting Bi had the strength to counter a million men, yet techniques of sparring and duelling were nevertheless not his most prized skills and as a result, almost fell under the deadly attack of MuRong Chong. Wang Zan was already prepared to fight to his death by completely disregarding all concern for his own life in order to protect Xiong, yet he was still unable to withstand the advancement of these attacks.

In the midst of all this tension, another person weaved out from within the rooms and shouted loudly, “Brothers, please let me say something!” This person was none other than Cheng Kun. Since all the guards of the Eastern Faction knew and recognized him, half of them stopped in their tracks the moment they heard him speak out. Cheng Kun continued, “Military Commissioner Xiong is the central pillar of our Imperial Government and the one supporting the world with his two bare hands! How could you all engage in such an atrocious and barbaric act as that of conspiring to induce harm upon him? The emasculated Wei may be in power now, but he will most definitely be meeting a terrible end in the future. My brothers, listen to me and disband this group instead!”

A few of the guards suddenly broke down and having thrown down their weapons, immediately fled from the place. Bewildered, MuRong Chong hurriedly proclaimed, “Cheng Kun is already a wanted criminal! Those who dare listen to his words will be found guilty of a crime punishable through death!” Amongst this group of guards specially chosen for the mission, nine-tenths of them were selected from Wei Zhong Xian’s own personal troops, thus having heard MuRong Chong’s warning, aside from a few of them who had discarded their weapons to make a secret escape, everyone else resumed their collective attack.

Yue Ming Ke stood in front of Xiong Ting Bi and continued to ward off the mass of attacks while Cheng Kun and Wang Zan took to the side and with their backs facing the wall, one of them defended on the left while the other one guarded on the right, exerting all they had as they fought to their deaths. Luckily for them, it just so happens that though these palace guards did not dare to escape due to the threat posed by Wei Zhong Xian and MuRong Chong’s sphere of power, yet more than half of them were already unwilling to exert their full efforts in attacking. Still, despite this fact, MuRong Chong and Jin Du Yi’s martial arts were indeed powerful, so powerful that just the combined attack of these two opponents was already enough to force Yue Ming Ke and his company of three to the point of where they were struggling to uphold the fight, not to mention the additional threat posed by all those guards who were entrapping them. As the battle continued on, Cheng Kun ended up sustaining a fist punch to his shoulder while Xiong Ting Bi’s left arm was wounded by a sabre. Yue Ming Ke’s eyes were spitting out fire as he generated a flurry with his sword and fought fearlessly in the face of death.

Suddenly, a series of painful screams pierced the air, all of which belonged to the guards ambushed outside the building. An old voice was then heard to thunder loudly, “Old freak Jin, I’ve got you this time!” inducing Jin Du Yi to holler out, “Brother Hao, hold him off for ten stances!”

Amidst the pandemonium of all the screaming and shouting, somebody was suddenly heard to peal out into a gleeful laughter that chimed with crystal clear musicality. This person then said with a giggle, “Hey old freak Jin! What about me? This is our first time meeting, are you not going to do me the honour of exchanging a few stances?” Silvery laughter filled the air as it reverberated all around and left a melodic ring echoing in everyone’s ears. Then amongst the dance of icy rays that stung at the eyes, Yu Luo Cha was suddenly seen to rocket out from amongst the crowd of people, the long sword in her hand glistening with an ethereal radiance!

In just a blink of an eye, she has already wounded seven or eight guards as she charged straight for the centre of the combat ring. Infuriated, MuRong Chong flipped his arms over into a back-hook so that Yu Luo Cha’s sword ended up striking thin air as she almost fell prey to his strike! With a writhe of her sword, Yu Luo Cha pierced towards the left only to suddenly reappear on the right instead, causing MuRong Chong to be almost wounded under her blade. Having exchanged just one stance, both fighters were secretly taken back.

Yu Luo Cha knew that she had blades pointing at her from all directions, thus with a smile she remarked, “This isn’t a good way to fight” and with a flip of her body, rocketed over to Yue Ming Ke’s side to take after his example by also pressing her back against the wall in combat.

Yue Ming Ke called out with elation, “Heroine Lian! Quickly come over here and protect the Grand Master!” which only caused Yu Luo Cha to snicker coldly, “I don’t care about your so and so Grand Master, I’m only here for my sword manual!” Then with a sudden leap forward, she jumped back into the sea of blades and pierced directly towards Jin Du Yi!

Jin Du Yi hurriedly swerved up a gust of palm strikes to create a wave of blasting palm currents that formed a solid shield in front of his chest, shocking Yu Luo Cha back one whole step. But with a twist of her blade, she attacked offensively while maintaining her defensive guard, all the while laughing with enchanting charm as she said, “Ha! Quite impressive indeed! But still not worthy enough to use my sword manual!” Then by leaning over and drawing up two erratic stances, she forced Jin Du Yi to retreat two steps!

Yue Ming Ke called out, “Heroine Lian! I personally guarantee that you will get your sword manual, I thank you ahead of time for contributing your immense help here today!” Yu Luo Cha retorted, “I’m not going to accept your help, nor am I here to help you out today!” But despite these words, the sword in her hand did not pause for even a brief moment as her every move struck with fatal deadliness.

Yue Ming Ke managed to steal a glance amongst all this chaos to discover that the treasured sword in Yu Luo Cha’s hand looked very much like his own Gliding Dragon Sword! Though he found this all extremely mystifying, yet surrounded by a mass attack, he was left with no other opportunity to study over the details.

Amidst the mayhem of this intense battle, someone was suddenly heard to scream from outside the house, “Brother Jin! This is a tough one!” Jin Du Yi answered, “I know. Send half of the troops to surround him.” But Yu Luo Cha only laughed and said, “Father, hurry and charge inside! The old freak Jin is in here!” A coarse old voice answered from outside, “Alright I’m coming little Jade!” and following these words, a few guards were instantaneously seen to explode into the air. These guards were all snatched using the Stone Tablet Obliterating Hands technique and then tossed right out the door! Just a heartbeat later, an old man slowly fought his way inside. Yue Ming Ke didn’t know then that this person was the Tie Fei Long whose great fame shocks the Northwest regions, but seeing such a shocking display of force, he was left incredibly astounded as he secretly thought to himself: This Demoness really does have some earth-shattering abilities! She has actually adopted such a man as her father?!

Now that Tie Fei Long and Yu Luo Cha have arrived, Yue Ming Ke’s side immediately received a surge of power. But the spurt of power on their opponent’s side was even greater! This was due to the fact that the guards were originally not desirous to induce harm upon Xiong Ting Bi and therefore half of them were actually not contributing their real efforts in the battle. But the moment that Tie Fei Long and Yu Luo Cha arrived, they proceeded to attack with a mercilessness that was deadly beyond means and as a result, ended up inciting the guards’ collective anger.

Those guards who were not willing to exert their full effort just a moment ago were now witnessing their companions crumble and pile up on the floor after being wounded by Yu Luo Cha. Furthermore, every one of them were either pierced through their major joints or crucial acupoints, causing them to roll about on the floor screaming wildly in pain, comprising a sight that was simply too horrific to behold. But those who were crushed up and annihilated by Tie Fei Long were in worse shape, for their heads were smashed open and their brains were sprayed all over the place. Outraged, all the guards surged forward to surround Yu Luo Cha and Tie Fei Long, which ended up alleviating the pressure from Xiong Ting Bi’s side.

Although Yu Luo Cha’s swordsmanship was supreme, yet a combination of her agile levitation skills was required in order to unleash its full power. Now being enclosed within the guards’ collective attack, she was unable to execute her levitation skills which decreased her power by half. Luckily, Tie Fei Long’s lower body work was extremely solid and the force of his palms was unbelievably explosive, thus it was only through combining the power of both the sword and palm were they able to withstand the attacks.

Although the threat of their situation has diminished somewhat, Yue Ming Ke was still worried that their danger has not yet been abolished, while the possibility of the Eastern Faction sending support troops further caused his heart to remain wrought with tense anxiety. Whipping out with a few deadly lashes of her sword, Yu Luo Cha sliced up one of the guards who was advancing towards her and then giggled again with sonorous musicality as she asked, “Hey Yue Ming Ke! Where’s your good friend?” A thought jolted through Yue Ming Ke as he answered, “Coming!” and then with just a flex of his left arm, he had already taken out the gloves that Cheng Kun had given to him and put them over this hand. Then, to the surprise of everyone, Yue Ming Ke suddenly charged straight for the exit!

Jin Du Yi thundered loudly, “Where do you think you’re going?” as he swept out from the side and blasted forth with his venomous palm. Yue Ming Ke immediately reached out with his left hand to directly impact with Jin’s palm while the sword in his right hand flashed out with such lightning speed and ripped out with such cyclonic fury that a loud cracking sound instantaneously followed as Yue’s blade sliced right through Jin Du Yi’s calf bone! Then through the momentum reverberating off the impact with Jin’s palm, Yue used this dynamism to thrust his whole body into the air as he shot over the head of all the guards and rocketed over the confines of the wall!

By logic, Jin Du Yi’s martial arts were definitely not inferior to that of Yue Ming Ke’s, then why is it that he would end up falling victim to such an injurious blow? This was all due to the excessive pride that Jin took in the lethalness of his poisonous palms. Since Jin Du Yi never expected that Yue Ming Ke would actually be daring to directly clash palms with him, he let down his guard not knowing that Yue had already put on the Golden Silk glove that would protect his palms against any sort of poisonous attack. As a result, Yue was able to use a blindingly fast stance to meet Jin Du Yi’s attack through the method of counter-attacking. And having succeeded with this one stance, Yue Ming Ke immediately made his escape.

Witnessing Yue Ming Ke flee from the scene while they were still in the face of grave danger left Xiong Ting Bi flabbergasted and puzzled. Wang Zan growled angrily, “They say you can only see into a person’s heart during the direst times, how true that is!” Xiong Ting Bi retorted, “Yue Ming Ke must have his reasons. Don’t jump to conclusions” and flourished his magnificent sword to shoot out rays of blindingly cold light that thrashed wildly about.

Having been wounded under Yue’s sword, Jin Du Yi’s power was significantly weakened and even though MuRong Chong’s martial arts were masterful, yet Xiong Ting Bi was fearless and indomitable beyond comparison and plus he had the two skilled fighters Wang Zan and Cheng Kun present there to protect him while the other palace guards were unwilling to attack him. Therefore even though Xiong’s group was unable to break out of the barricade, they still managed to uphold their defence for the time being.

Across town, Taoist Priest White Stone was still fuming with indignant anger over the fact of having been threatened and challenged. Gathered together and filling up the entire hall were the dozen Wu Tang disciples that resided in the Imperial capital along with a dozen other skilled fighters present on the behalf of Liu Xi Ming. They were all ready for a glorious battle with their enemy. But having waited for two whole days, they did not catch even a glimpse of their enemies’ shadow and since today was the last day set by the threat, their anxiety levels were particularly high.

The crowd of fighters have gathered together at the Liu family ever since early morning, but having waited all the way until late afternoon, there was still no trace of their enemy. Liu Xi Ming laughed and said, “Wu Tang’s great fame resounds throughout the whole world, who would dare to play with the tiger’s whiskers?” Taoist Priest White Stone puffed up with smug satisfaction and laughed pompously, “But I won’t bother myself with hanging around here to wait for him after today.” Just when they were smirking and snickering to each other, a Wu Tang disciple was suddenly heard to report, “There’s someone coming!” Liu Xi Ming asked, “How many people are there?” The disciple who was standing on guard reported back, “Only one person!” causing Liu Xi Ming to exclaim with surprise, “They’ve got some nerve! Open the doors and let him in!”

Shortly afterwards, a person charged into the room with sweat dripping from his forehead. The crowd of fighters immediately got up and prepared to meet their enemy, but Zhuo Yi Hang was immediately heard to cry out, “Oh! It’s only Brother Yue!” Taoist Priest White Stone let out a breath of relief and thinking that Yue had somehow gotten news of their predicament and have thus arrived to lend in his assistance, he snickered coldly, “Hero Yue, there’s no need to trouble you for your exalted presence.”

But Yue Ming Ke only smiled and then came forward to tug at Zhuo Yi Hang’s hand. He then suddenly extended his two fingers and jabbed them into Zhuo’s waist, sealing his acupoint to render him immobile and mute! Then with a twist of his body, he threw Zhuo onto his back and dashed out of the door, catching a room full of masterful fighters completely off guard as they were all left frozen with shock.

Such is: Soldier extraordinaire suddenly executes ingenious plan, a hall of skilled fighters left in absolute shock.

 

 

_________________________________________________________

[1] “Vermilion Brush”: an ink-brush pen dipped in vermilion (a vivid red) coloured ink used by only the Emperor himself when he reviews the memorials presented to him by his officials. By writing notes, comments, authorization, support and instructions on the pages of these memorials, the Emperor relates his orders to his officials who will subsequently carry out these orders.

[2] “Plum-blossom needles”: More than a thousand years ago, the plum-blossom needle was an acupunctural tool used in conjunction with its very own acupunctural method for the treatment of headaches, giddiness, neurasthenia, imbalance of plant nerve, neuritis, various ocular troubles, acute and chronic intestinal and gastric disorders. These needles were named plum-blossom needles due to the fact that there were composed of five small needles bounded together in the form of a plum-blossom. It is also known as “dermal” or “children” needle due to its ability to inflict little pain (for it only stimulates the channel/meridian point) and is usually used to cure patterns of vacuity or other bodily weaknesses. Though sometimes used in conjunction with “seven star needle,” the seven star needle is in fact seven needles bounded together. However, the plum-blossom needle is also sometimes known to be formed by three needles tied together in a bundle. Modern versions of this acupunctural tool has the needles attached to a metal hammer head and a long handle, such as the following examples: External Link, External Link, External Link. However, due to the nature of how this weapon was used within this story (and other stories of Liang YuSheng which mentions this weapon), the needles should have been extremely thin in size and should not have included any mention of a metal hammer head or handle.

[3] “Yamen”: The headquarters/office of the head of an agency/office/department.

[4] “Censor-in-chief”: An official belonging to the department in the imperial government that was responsible for overseeing or investigating into the conduct and misbehaviour of officials. Headed by one or two censor-in-chiefs, they also worked along with vice-censor-in-chiefs. Their reports to the Emperor about officials’ misconduct have the power to influence or cause their impeachment.

[5] “gown embroidered with four-clawed dragons”: These gowns worn by Royalty, Lords, Generals and Ministers (as well as the Empress, Honoured Consorts or other important women of the palace) were called “Mang Pao” where “Pao” meant gown and “Mang” was a mythical creature that was a variant of the Dragon. Since the Dragon was reserved for the sole use of the Emperor, thus the differentiating trait that separated the Emperor’s Long-Pao (“Long” meaning Dragon) from the Mang-Pao was the number of claws it had. The dragon had five claws while the Mang-dragon had only four claws. Otherwise, the creature embroidered on the Mang-Paos pretty much resembled the dragons stitched on the Long-Paos. In the Ming dynasty, the right to wear these gowns could only be bestowed upon the officials by the Emperor himself, and thus was considered not only a great honour, but a sign of great authority. Later, by the Qing Dynasty, the number of dragons and claws that were embroidered on the gown further differentiated the rank of the official. The following is a picture of a Mang-Pao from the Ming dynasty: External Link and this is from the Qing Dynasty: External Link

[6] “Commandant”: A prestige title for military officers (ranked 6 or 7 out of 9 ranks, were 9 was the lowest rank).