Vol 1 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter Two: Eavesdropping (Final)

Lin Pingzhi wantedRenzhi and Yu Renhao to the death, but with several of his pressure points sealed, he was unable to move his lower body at all He would become a complete invalid, if they were to cut the nerves and tendons of his lih the collarbone, and he would rather die fighting, than go through all that pain

Suddenly, screa cry filled with pain, and it was the voice of Jia Renda Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao both jumped up with their swords drawn and dashed into the kitchen ilided in silently, then grabbed Lin Pingzhi by the collar and picked hilimpse at the pox-covered face of his rescuer: the face that belonged to the ugly wine-selling girl, who had caused all the trouble in the beginning

The ugly girl dragged hi tree, where the horses were reined, she grabbed him by the back with her left hand and lifted hizhi still in a state of shock, the girl pulled out a sword, and swung it swiftly The blade flashed and the rein was cut free She prodded the thigh of the horse with her sword; feeling pain, the horse let out an angry neigh, and then pounded madly into the woods

“Mo about his parents and not wanting to run away by hiainst the back of the horse and fell off After quite soround, he found himself deep in some tall bushes The horse did not stop and soon disappeared into the woods

Holding onto a branch, Lin Pingzhi tried to stand up, only finding that his legs had little strength to support hi himself up about a foot, he fell back into the bushes His waist and backside were tre into rocks and tree roots after he fell from the horse

Shouting and pounding footsteps came louder and louder frozhi lay motionless in the bushes He could hear the loud clashes of weapons nearby Several people had started a fierce fight Quietly, he stuck his head out and watched fro Renzhi and Yu Renhao of the Qingcheng Sword School Opposing theirl and a man with his face concealed behind a black cloth Most of his hair was gray, so it was obvious that he was an old zhi randfather, old man Sa

“I thought those tere also frozhi pondered, “but it turned out that the girl rescued me… Oh! If I had only known that they both werethe hero and causing all this trouble for no reason” Then he thought, “Since they are all so busy fighting right now, this is the perfect opportunity for me to rescue my Father and Mother” But the pressure point at his back was still sealed, and his body just wouldn’t cooperate

“Who…who are you? How did you learn the sword skills of the Qingcheng Sword School?” Fang Renzhi cried out in disbelief

The oldflashes, Fang Renzhi’s sword flew into the air Fang Renzhi immediately jumped backward and Yu Renhao rushed forward to block the attacks The oldfast moves

“You…You…!” Yu Renhao shouted, his voice betraying surprise and fear With a loud ring, his sword also flew into the air

The ugly girl jued, but the old man parried her thrust “Don’t kill him!” he commanded

“But they’re so cruel and killed so ued

“Let’s go!” the old irl’s face, the old et our Master’s orders”

“Guess I’ll let theirl nodded reluctantly, and then left through the s, both of them disappeared into the woods

It took Fang and Yu quite a while to calm down They both picked up their oords

“Unbelievable! How did he know our Qingcheng sword techniques?” Yu Renhao still could not believe it

“He only knew a few, but…but when he used theRenzhi had to agree

“They rescued the Lin boy,” You Renhao said

“Let’s just hope this isn’t a trick to lure us away fro Renzhi yelled, suddenly

“damn!” Yu Renhao cried The two turned around and rushed back

A short while later, the sounds of horsesat a slow trot broke the silence Two horses passed through the woods Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao each led a horse, and Lin Zhennan and Madazhi almost shouted out, “Mom! Dad!” Fortunately, he was able to s the words He knew that if he et himself killed, but he would also ruin any opportunity to rescue his parents Trailing about twenty feet behind the two horses, aIt turned out to be Jia Renda A white cloth wrapped around his head was soaked with blood and he cursed loudly, li

“hell! You sons of turtles took the rabbit boy, but I’ve still got these two old rabbits I’ll give each of these two old rabbits a good lashi+ng every day When we arrive at Mount Qingcheng, we’ll see how many lives they still have left!”

“Junior apprentice Jia!” Fang Renzhi yelled in admonishment “The Master has reminded us over and over to make sure that we capture the Lin couple alive If any accidents were to befall them, I’d pay to see how many layers of skin the Master would peel off you”

Jia Renda snorted, but shut up instantly

Lin Pingzhi listened as the Qingcheng disciples walked away He was actually slightly relieved from what he just heard

“They are going to send ive them too much of a hard time on the way Fujian is far away from Szechwan I’ll have to find a way to rescue Father and Mother”

Then he thought, “When I get to an Escort House branch, I should send a ” He lay silently in the bushes, oblivious to the bites fros

Several hours passed When the sealed pressure points on his back finally opened up, it was already dark He ed to stand up and sloalked back to the small restaurant

“I’d better disguise nizeto rescue et killed?” he asked himself

After entering the restaurant owner’s roo, but the mountain people were so poor that they did not even own a spare set of clothes in which to change Very disappointed, he walked out of the restaurant, when he spotted the bodies of the owner and his wife, lying on the ground “Well, guess I’ll have to use the clothes of the deceased,” he thought He took the clothes off of the dead body and held them in his hands They as filthy and stank badly

He considered washi+ng the clothing before putting it on, but then decided against itIf he should miss an opportunity to save his parents simply because of his concern over clean clothes, surely, he would regret it for the rest of his life He clenched his teeth and undressed hied into the clothes of the dead

Lighting a torch, he looked around, and soon discovered his father’s sword and hisin a corner He picked up his father’s sword and wrapped it in a rag, tied it to his back, and then walked outside The croaking of the frogs in the canyon sounded in the distance through the otherwise silent night Lin Pingzhi suddenly felt overwhelmed by desolation and almost cried out He threw the torch as hard as he could; the flauishi+ng itself in the pond Instantly, darkness engulfed hiain

“Lin Pingzhi, Lin Pingzhi! If you can’t be cautious and alert, and let yourself fall back into the hands of those Qingcheng villains, then you will be snuffed out, just like that torch, falling into that filthy pond,” Lin Pingzhi admonished himself

Raising his arm, he wiped the corners of his eyes with a sleeve When the sleeve neared his face, the odor reeked so badly that he almost vomited But firmly, he said to himself aloud, “If you can’t even withstand the foul odor, you are not a true man!”

He started walking, but before long, his hips started hurting again He clenched his teeth and increased his pace However, not knohich way his parents had been taken, he wandered randoh different paths in the mountains He walked till dahen rays of sunshi+ne bathed his face, s clearly

Suddenly, he was struck with a thought, “Those two villains are going to Mount Qingcheng Szechwan Province is to the west of Fujian Why aan to ith his back to the sun

“Mother and Father have been gone for ht, “and I walked the opposite direction for half a night; I must be far away from them, by now I’d better buy a horse I wonder how much money I will need”

He exaroaned When they started the trip, all the gold and jewelry were put into a leather saddlebag Lin Zhennan and Madazhi; he did not have even a single tael He stamped his foot in frustration “What should I do? What should I do?” He stared at the sky blankly for a while and then thought, “I o rescue my parents I am sure I’ll find some way, somehow, and not starve”

He began walking toward the foot of the rowl loudly Soht his eye They were not ripe yet, but at least they would assuage his hunger He went up to the tree to pick some fruits, but then he realized that the fruitsthe For three generations, the Lin fa robbed or stolen by bandits How could he do so that only common thieves do? If somebody saw him, and called hireat shae Escort House would be disgraced forever

He had learned when he was still a little boy that all infamous criminals started out as s only ss, like a squash or fruit Then, they would start to stealall self-control, and never being able to stop At that thought, he broke out in a cold sweat

“One day, Father and I will restore the fae Escort House! I , than steal from others,” he vowed

He continued on his trip in a hurry, and gave no ht to the fruit trees by the road A couple of e He walked to a shack and started begging for food in a halting voice He was used to being waited upon for everything all his life, and had never before had to beg for anything from other people After only a couple of words, his face turned red with shame

The far from her husband and was still in a foul ar, she immediately released a torrent of abuse

“You little thief, what are you doing sneaking around! I just lost a hen You probably stole it, and now you want ive it to a thief like you You stole ry, that he beata broom

Every tizhi stepped back a little The wozhi’s face Lin Pingzhi was furious He e the broom, and then shot a strike at the woman with his palm

A sudden thought popped up into his head, “How sha up a duive me food?” He tried to catch hith in the strike, he lost balance and stumbled Then, his left foot happened to land in a pile of cow dung He slipped and fell on his back

The farh “You little thief! You’ve got just what you deserve!” She smacked him on his head with her broom and spat on him, then turned around and went into the shack

Lin Pingzhi felt angry at his huot up and found his hands and face covered with cow dung Surprisingly, the farmer’s wife came back with four boiled corncobs and stuck them into his hands

“Go on, kid, take these! God gave you such a pretty face, even prettier than a girl’s, but you don’t want to apply yourself You are just a lazy buh

Still angry, Lin Pingzhi made to hurl the corncobs away, but the farrin, “Very well! Throw theuts and you are not afraid to starve! Great! Throw them away, and I atch you starve!”

Lin Pingzhi reconsidered, “In order to rescue Father and Mother, and to seek revenge and restore the fae Escort House, I will have to bear all kinds of hu fro it is, I will just clench my teeth and take it without co” So he said, “Many thanks!” and then took a big bite of a corncob

“I knew you wouldn’t throw them away,” the far, “This kid is so hungry; it probably wasn’t him, who stole my hen Ah, the daood temper, my life would be much better”

Along the way, Lin Pingzhi soed for food, and sometimes, just ate wild fruits froood harvest year in Fujian Province, and h his face was covered with ood manners, so people liked hi for food He tried to ask about infor the road, but was not able to learn anything Eight days later, he entered Jiangxi province He asked for directions to Nancang and went there, straightaway He thought that the Escort House branch in Nancang should have soet some money and a fast horse

After entering the town of Nancang, he asked soe Escort House

“Fortune Prestige Escort House? Why are you asking? It has been burned to the ground Even the neighbors’ houses were burnt down There’s nothing left,” the man answered

Lin Pingzhi groaned inwardly He came to the street of the Escort House and saith his own eyes that the whole street was littered by debris He stood there silently for a long time

“It ain If I cannot have e, I would rather die!” he resolved

Without delaying in Nancang, he immediately went on with his trip west Several days later, he arrived at Changsha, the capital of Hunan province He had thought that the Qingcheng Sword School ht have also burned down this Escort House branch, but when he asked people about news of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, no one had heard anything Lin Pingzhi felt great relief and started heading toward the Escort House in big strides And soon, he arrived at the gate

Although the Hunan branch of the Escort House was not as big as the Fuzhou Headquarters Escort House, it, too, had a huge verate Lin Pingzhi peeked inside, but did not see anyone

“I as, and look so aard; the escorts in this branch ht scoff at me” He hesitated at the doorway

He raised his head and then noticed that the sign “Fortune Prestige Escort House Hunan Branch” was upside down “How could the escorts in this branch be so absentn upside down?” he was quite surprised

He turned his head to look at the flags on the flagpoles, and then his heart sank A pair of dirty saddles hung on top of the left flagpole On the right flagpole was a pair of flower-patterned woman’s pants The pants were torn to shreds, but still fluttered in the wind While he looked on in shock, a man walked out from the Escort House

“Hey, you son of a turtle What are you doing sneaking around here? You trying to steal so?” the man yelled

Recognizing that theRenzhi and Jia Renda, Lin Pingzhi knew that he must have come from Szechwan, as well, so he did not even look at hi away Suddenly, he felt a pain in his backside The zhi wanted to turn around and fight the e in an instant With the Escort House obviously occupied by the Qingcheng Sword School, it was a perfect opportunity for hiet information about his parents All he needed to do was to stay calm

Pretending to be just an ordinary person with no skill in Kung Fu whatsoever, he pretended to take a spill onto the ground, and feigned an inability to get up The hter and called hi back inside

Lin Pingzhi stood up slowly and aed for a bowl of cold rice and ate it

“The eneet careless!” He kept re himself

Finding soround, he smeared them onto his face until it was coainst the alley wall and fell asleep

Lin Pingzhi waited till about ten at night, then took out his long sword and hung it at his waist He circled to the back door of the Escort House and listened carefully Aftersure there was no sound from within the walls, he jumped on top of the wall Inside was an orchard He ju the wall Darkness engulfed the orchard There was neither light nor sound; he could feel the beating of his heart He had his hand out feeling the wall as he walked, and was dreading the moment he would step on a rock or dry hay and h two courtyards, he saw light co from the East Hall , so he crept a couple of steps closer, when he heard so under the , he held his breath and lowered hi on the floor, leaning against the wall Just after he sat down, he heard someone’s voice

“Let’s just burn the whole son of a turtle Escort House to, so we don’t have to stay here and make fools of ourselves”

“No! We can’t!” another voice said “Senior apprentice brother Pi and others just burnt down the entire Escort House Nancang branch, and I heard that dozens of neighbors’ houses were burnt down as well Soood for the reputation of our chivalrous Qingcheng Sword School That incident will et them punished by the Master”

Lin Pingzhi was filled with outrage Now, there was no doubt that the Qingcheng Sword School was behind these despicable acts He cursed their hypocrisy for having the gall to still call themselves chivalrous

“Well then, we really shouldn’t burn the house down But are we going to just leave the house intact?” the previous voice asked

The other one laughed “Junior brother Ji, think about it We’ve already hung the sign of the Escort House upside down and also raised a pair of wopole The nae Escort House has already been totally trashed We should leave the pants hanging there for as long as possible Why bother burning down the house?”

“You’re right, senior brother Shen!” Ji laughed “Ha-ha, the pair of pants is going to bring the Escort House so ain their reputation for at least another three hundred years”

The two laughed for soshan to’s cere? The news of the cereh, it won’t look very good for the reputation of the Qingcheng Sword School”

“I’ve got the present ready,” Shen said in good huuarantee you that on’t lose face for the Qingcheng Sword School The present et us a lot of attention at the banquet for the Gold Basin Hand Washi+ng ceremony”

“What is the present? Why don’t I know about it?” Ji asked delightedly

Shen was quite content and let out a chuckle “We are just liberating it, so we canout of our own pockets Look, is this good enough?”

The sound of soh the

“A!” Ji burst out in a cry of surprise “Senior brother Shen, do you have et such expensive items?” Ji asked in awe

Lin Pingzhi was really teh the crack of theto see what kind of present it was, but hethat if he had stuck his head up, a shadow could fall on the ; it would be all over if he let the enemy find him So, he suppressed his curiosity Then he heard Shen’s voice, again

“Did you think that we occupied the Fortune Prestige Escort House for nothing? I was going to present this pair of jade horses to the Master, but right now, it is probably better to let old Liu Zhengfeng be the lucky recipient”

A tide of anger washed over Lin Pingzhi “So they robbed the treasure froe What a bunch of burglars! What treasure would the Hunan Escort House Branch have? It was probably a client’s goods, waiting to be escorted The pair of jade horses et them back, Father would have to be the one to compensate”

Shen laughed again “There are four bags here, one for all of the Master’s wives,[1] one for all the apprentices, one for you, and one for me! Go ahead, pick one”

“What are these?” Ji asked After a short while, he burst out with another exclaold and jewels! We are damn rich now!!! What a son of a turtle the Escort House is! The hell with them! They really have extorted a lot of money! Senior brother, how did you find these? I searched all over the Escort House over a dozen tirounds All I found was about a hundred taels of silver How did you find all this treasure, without breaking a sweat?”

Shen sounded very pleased with hiold and treasure anywhere? For the last couple of days, I watched you open drawers, s I knew that you’d be busy over nothing But you would not have believedwouldn’t hurt you, big boy”

“Excellent, excellent! Senior brother Shen, where did you find these?”

“Think about it, there is one thing in this Escort House that was out of place What was it?”

“Out of place? Lots of things are out of place in this son of a turtle Escort House For one, their Kung Fu skills were so da lion on their flagpole,” Ji scoffed

“We replaced the big lion with a pair of woain! Are there any other strange things in this Escort House?”

“These Hunan asses have toois the chief of the entire branch Escort House, but he put a coffin in the room, next to his own bedroo

“Use your head!” Shen chuckled “Why would he put a coffin in the next room? Could it be the body of his wife or son that he hates to part with? I think not! I figured he hid so important in the coffin The coffin was just used to…”

“Aha!!” Ji jumped up in realization “That’s it! That’s it! These treasures were hidden in the coffin! Cool! damn! These sons of turtles Escorts are just too sneaky Senior brother Shen, these two bags are of the same size How can I take the sareater share” Then there caainst each other; apparently, Ji took so and put them into another

There was no sound fro the offer

“Senior brother Shen, I’ll go get soested He yawned, and then pushed the door open and walked out

Lin Pingzhi shrank his body under the , not daring to move an inch He peeked from the side of his eyes and saw a short and fat man It was the one who had kicked him earlier in the day

A little while later, Ji returned with a basin of hot water

“Senior brother Shen, this time, the Master sent dozens of apprentices out I’d say that the two of us have achieved the ood this ti and other apprentices went to attack the Guangzhou branch, and senior brother Ma and sozhou branch; they are so careless, even if they see a coffin, they wouldn’t figure out that there could be treasure inside”

“Senior brother Fang, junior brother Yu, and Jia Renda got the Fuzhou Headquarters They must have found ot killed in Fuzhou, they’re going to end up with more blame than credit,” Shen said cheerfully

“The Master, hie Escort House headquarters; senior brother Fang and junior brother Yu were just scouts,” Ji said, “Master won’t bla and junior brother Yu for the death of junior brother Yu This tith All the apprentices started the attacks against the headquarters and the branches of the Escort House, at the same time But no one expected that the skills of the Lin family were nowhere near their reputation; just three scouts alone were enough to capture Lin Zhennan and his wife Even the Master didn’t see that co Ha-ha!”

Lin Pingzhi felt cold sweat dripping down his forehead It was clear that the Qingcheng Sword School had been plotting the attacks for a long time, and attacked all the Escort Houses, simultaneously The trouble didn’t start because he had killed that man named Yu; even if he hadn’t killed that rascal Yu, they would have attacked the Escort Houses, all the sahai, himself, came to Fuzhou; it was no wonder then, that there was an attacker with the skill necessary to perfor Pal Sword School? Why did they attack so viciously? By now, he realized he no longer needed to blae was ready to explode If it weren’t for the fact that his Kung Fu skills were no h theand chopped the two ani fro their feet

“Master didn’t have the wrong io, when the Fortune Prestige Escort House shocked the southeast region of the Martial World, they see Sword Art earned a great reputation; they couldn’t have done it by trickery I’d say the descendants probably weren’t sh to learn the real skills from their ancestors”

Lin Pingzhi’s face turned red with shame

“Before we caht us the Evil-Resisting Sword Art Although we couldn’t learn the whole technique very well in only a couple of months, I think this set of sword moves has a lot of potential; it’s just hard to release the power Junior brother Ji, how ure out?”

“I heard frorasp much of the true idea behind the set of sword moves,” Ji replied, “so I didn’t really study it that hard Senior brother Shen, the Master gave the order for all apprentices toand the others will bring the Lin couple to Hengshan, right? I wonder how tough the descendent of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art will be”

Hearing the shocking news that his parents were still alive, and would be brought to Hengshan, Lin Pingzhi felt both happy and sad at the same time

“In just a few short days, you will meet hi Sword Art with him, ha-ha”

Suddenly theopened Lin Pingzhi was astonished and thought that they had discovered him Just when he was about to run away, he was doused with hot water fro poured out of theHe alht in the room was soon put out, and darkness fell over the courtyard

Lin Pingzhi was still in shock He could feel water dripping down from his face, and it had a foul odor, he then realized that fellow Ji must have poured the filthy water, in which they just washed their feet, on hih Ji didn’t do this intentionally, it was still quite a huarding his parents; so no matter what, even if he had to be soaked in urine, it would have been worth it

The night was now silent Afraid that the two ht away, he decided to wait till they fell asleep He leaned against the wall and stayed still under theAfter quite a while, the sound of snores arose from inside, and he stood up slowly

Lin Pingzhi glanced back and suddenly saw a long quivering shadow cast on theStartled, he squatted down instinctively Then he discovered that it was theshutter wobbling slightly in the night wind, and realized that Ji didn’t bolt theafter du out the water