Ode to gallantry, p.51
Ode to Gallantry, page 51
As soon as Chong Xu stood firmly on the ground, his left hand immediately moved to his waist, he drew out his sword. He was seething with anger but still managed to smile and said: "good, good, good!" He said "good" three times, only then took a breath and said: "Young fellow, Younger sister has trained you well and she too has a outstanding disciple. Let me ask you for some pointers."
As he was saying these words his sword aimed towards Shi Potian’s chest.
Shi Potian drew back one step, waved his hand and said repeatedly: "No, no, I don’t want to fight with you."
Chong Xu was just thrown by Shi Potian. He was a fellow-disciple of Shi Qing and Min Rou. If he withdraws now then he will be laughing stock in the martial-arts world. On the other hand he was from the older generation so he couldn’t just force Shi Potian to fight.
When he saw Shi Potian himself running from fight, exactly as he was hoping so he said: "We both person are on the same side and also we don’t have any disputes. We are just comparing our skills in martial-arts."
Shi Potian said: "You are a fellow-disciple of Master Shi and Madam Shi. If in the fight I kill you then it won’t be good."
He was really feeling uncomfortable at this moment. He only feared that he might kill him with his poisonous palm and so spoke thoughtlessly.
All the Taoist of ‘Shan Qing’ temple were extremely proud of their martial-arts and thought that he is mocking all of them and has indeed bad intension in his heart. About more than ten Taoist priests moved forward towards Shi Potian in anger.
Shi Qing too shouted: "what did you say? Do not talk nonsense."
Chong Xu looked at Tian Xu and fellow Taoists. He had his sword already in his hand. After listening to these humiliating words from Shi Potian, how could have he endured such insult again. He moved forward with big strides and shouted to clear the way: "Good, now I want to take a look at you and see how you will actually kill me, make your move!"
Shi Potian didn’t moved and waved his hands saying: "I won’t make move against you."
Chong Xu angrily said: "humph, you see with me such disdain!"
He moved his sword to stab his shoulder. He saw Shi Potian didn’t have any weapons in his hand, so he attacked a place which was not that critical. He was a priest in the Shan Qing temple and also didn’t want to make the Shi couples his enemy so he made his first move at his shoulder but didn’t used much internal energy.
Shi Potian moved sideways but was not to be able to avoid this move and only heard a light sound; his shoulder was stabbed by the sword, immediately a lot of blood poured out.
Min Rou called out in fear: "oh!"
Chong Xu shouted: "Take out your sword quickly!"
Shi Potian thought: "Just now I have killed two of Madam Shi’s fellow apprentices, if I kill this person than firstly it will be unfair to madam Shi and secondly I too will become a unprincipled person."
When Chong Xu stabbed him with his sword, he could have retaliated and forced him to divert his attack, but he was afraid that if he moved his hands then he might poison him, so he clasped his both hand behind his back and was unwilling to use them in fight.
When the Taoist priests of Shan Qing temple saw him not moving his hand to fight they thought in their heart that this person is really arrogant and is not even giving face to them and obviously despised him greatly.
One Taoist called out: "Elder brother Chong, this boy is arrogant, teach him some lessons!"
Chong Xu said: "you are treating me with disrespect from the start?" he took out his swords and brandished them in air.Suddenly he made his move. Shi Potian didn’t knew much about his sword skill, he tried to move quickly and dodge the attack, but was still unable to avoid the attack. He was hit on his left arm and right chest by the sword.
Fortunately Chong Xu was just trying him to use his hands and attacked in such a way that he won’t get any serious injury but some minor flesh injury. When he saw that he still is not attacking him and just trying to evade the attack, he quickly retracted his sword immediately.
Min Rou saw her beloved son getting three sword wounds and felt deep pain in her heart. Right away she saw Chong Xu taking posture for another move. He wielded his sword to stab Shi Potian again.
For a moment everyone heard the sound clink-clink and then sound of parched beans one after another for thirteen times. In a blink of an eye Chong Xu attacked thirteen times and Min Rou blocked each of his moves. Both people were highly skilled and from the same school and one by one executed some exquisite sword moves of Shan Qing temple ‘on the clear quick sword’, ‘jumping straight like a shooting star’, ‘the splashing flame’ and ‘rapid victory for coherence’. As soon as they executed these thirteen moves, all the Taoists and Shi Qing cried in one voice: "Excellent!"
On that place all these people, besides Shi Potian, each one of them were highly skilled martial-art expert of ‘Shan Qing’ temple. They saw Chong Xu has executed all these thirteen steps swiftly and fiercely but Min Rou’s defense against these moves was also extremely solid and compact. In a moment both of these people has displayed some extraordinary sword skills and everybody looked completely relaxed.
Tian Xu knew that if these people are again involved in fight then it won’t be easy for both of them to come out without victory or defeat.
He said: "Younger sister, so you have decided to protect this young person?"
Min Rou didn’t answer and looked at her husband to take them out of this situation.
Shi Qing said: "This child has no regards for elders and superiors. He shows reckless courage and disrespect. This serves him well."
He points to the three sword wounds on his body and said: "It is only his fortune elder brother Chong has showed mercy and have not taken his life. This child’s martial-art skills are really shallow, how could have he defended himself against such an exponent like elder brother? Child, quickly kowtow to all the elders and ask for forgiveness."
Chong Xu said loudly: "he despises us obviously from the start only. Why would have he said that he can kill us to get rid of us?"
Shi Potian spreads out his palm and saw a faint red spot with cloudy blue line still present there. He sighed and said: "This pair of hand will always cause trouble and will then kill people."
The color of every Taoists changed as they heard these words from Shi Potian. Shi Qing listened to his wild and crazy attitude and thought he is still threatening these people and in his heart he too felt great anger. He was unable to restrain himself and shouted: "You...boy doesn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth. You threaten the elder fellow apprentices, who have just shown mercy and have not killed you, don't you know?"
Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......I do not want to kill him, so I have also shown mercy."
Shi Qing was angry, he wanted to grab this young boy there only and hit him with his fist, his appearance changed slightly. Min Rou at once knew his intension and held on his left arm immediately.
Shi Qing pulled his arm, although didn’t make effort in a big way and stood motionless.
Chong Xu had just stabbed Shi Potian thrice and saw him trying to avoid his sword moves. Obviously he was not able to understand the entire essence of his sword skills but his internal energy was exceptional. According to his knowledge it was quite unlikely that he was a disciple of the Shi couple. In his heart, he already had some suspicions, but when Shi Potian lifted the palm to look at them he smelled a light stench and his suspicion increased significantly and shouted a question: "Little boy, whose apprentice you really are, from where you got such a glib-tongue?"
Shi Potian said: "I ......I ......I am the eldest disciple of the ‘Golden Phoenix sect’."
Chong Xu thought for a moment: "what ‘Golden phoenix, silver crow sect? In the martial arts world I have never heard a sect of this name; this boy is talking nonsense mostly."
He sneers and said: "I also heard that your Excellency is also best disciple of ‘Golden Phoenix sect’. Actually this matter doesn’t involve you so don’t meddle in our internal matters."
He looked at his left side and winked at two Taoist priests.
Both the Taoist priests understood him and moved forward towards Shi Qing and Min Rou, reversed their swords and executed move "worship money to excel". This move of "worship money to excel" was one of the basic move of ‘Shan Qing’ sect. It was usually executed as a ritual to pay respect in front of opposite party when they are elders of the school or perhaps famous senior expert in martial-art world.
It was a purely defensive move, the moving sword pointing towards the ground, the left hand on the sword hilt, looks as if saluting. Both the feet pretty close and firm on the ground. This move actually defended the body up to five feet actually. If the enemy is not moving then oneself is motionless, but if the enemy assaults, then can counter-attack easily.
The Shi couples were confused. They didn’t know what to do. They knew that if they don’t make any move than these Taoist will not attack because of their past relationship but the moment they try to save their son and pick the sword up, immediately they have to accept challenge.
Min Rou has compared her skills earlier with these Taoists years ago in ‘Shan Qing temple’ and thought: "in the past when in Shan Qing temple, we were learning martial-arts, at that time their skills were far inferior to me, but this "worship money to excel" executed by them looks quite strong and steady. It seems they have improved a lot in these years and she was afraid it would take at least thirty-forty moves to defeat them."
As she was thinking this, she saw Chong Xu vibrating his sword continuously. He has already rounded Shi Potian and said: "If you don’t hit back again, I will execute all the evil people of Golden Phoenix sect".
He called ‘Golden phoenix’ clearly and obviously wanted the Shi couple to hear, so they don’t get angry later in case this person s really their disciple.
Shi Qing thought its time to take the bull by its horns. He knew that if his son does not hit back again then Chong Xu will really hurt his badly this time, but if hits back to fight then if he can hold him for some time and lose then maybe he can survive, so he called out immediately: "child, elder brother is a top expert in the martial-arts world, to take pointers in martial-art from him will be a greatly benefit you. Elder uncle is not going to hurt you severely so don’t fear and take out your weapon and resist quickly!"
Shi Potian only saw Chong Xu moving his sword really quickly, the dazzling sword reflection in the moonlight engulfed him, and he felt a dense cold air emanating from the sword and was really terrified. Chong Xu had already stabbed him thrice so she quickly moved aside. He already knew that this Taoist is very fierce. When he heard Shi Qing asking him to hit back, in his heart he felt happy and thought: "If I use a weapon instead of a palms to fight with him than its likely that the poison on my palms will not kill him."
He glanced at his side and saw there was a wiry long sword lying on the ground; it was precisely the one which disciple of Lu Shiba left there after losing to Madam Shi.
He called out hurriedly: "good, good! I will fight back, you ......You must not stab me from behind when I am picking this sword. If you seize this opportunity to attack me from behind that it won’t count, also you will a shameless person."
Chong Xu saw him saying these words in one breath, looking helpless and also funny at the same time, he exclaimed: "Pooh!" and drew back two steps and with bu sound inserted the sword in ground.
He said: "You, you think I Chong Xu will sneak attack on a boy like you?"
He inserted both hands in the waist and waited for him to take the sword, and thought: "The sword moves of this boy doesn’t look similar to our sect, so its unlikely that he is a disciple of Shi couple. I don’t understand why this Shi fellow has called me his elder uncle then?"
Shi Potian bent down to pick up the wiry long sword, suddenly a thought came to his mind: "I should fight really carefully, if I am not careful enough then this could turn out be a very difficult situation. If unconsciously my left hand moved and hits this person than surely he will die, so to avoid this I should tie my left hand with my waist. If it is tied then obviously I can’t strike him with my palm and won’t kill him." So he stood immediately and said to Chong Xu: "sorry, I should ask you to wait for some more time."
He untied his waistband immediately, hung his left hand and started to tie it with his waist; various people were looking surprisingly at him. No one knew what exactly is he trying to do. Shi Potian tightened the waistband and knotted it firmly and then again bent down to take the wiry sword and said: "Now it’s fine, let’s compare our skill, now you won’t get killed."
Chon Xu went mad and nearly fainted as he heard this. He saw this young person tying his left hand to his waist and asking him to duel with single hand. He really hated him for this act. Several Taoist priests scolded him at once.
Shi Qing and Min Rou also reprimanded him, said: "this child is really impolite, untie this waistband quickly!"
Shi Potian hesitated for a moment; in the meantime Chong Xu moved his sword to stab at him. He didn’t have time to honor the instruction of Min Rou. He simply moved his wiry long sword to keep off the attack.
Chong Xu knew that the internal strength of this person is very strong so he avoided the contact of his sword and immediately changed his move. His sword created ‘shua-shua’ sound six-seven times as he brandished his sword for stabbing him.
Shi Potian was in complete confusion, didn’t have any clue how to resist, also he was totally unaware of the opponent’s sword skill.
In his heart he called out: "This is it then!"
He started to move his wiry long sword in randomly chopping manner with absolute lack of coherence. He has learnt the seventy-three sword moves of Golden phoenix sect but at this moment his mind went blank as if all skills he learnt vanished in the thin air.
Fortunately Chong Xu knew that this person’s internal energy is extremely strong that’s why he didn’t act rashly. He was able to see lot of flaws in his sword chops but he was adamant on avoiding his wiry sword hitting his sword for fear that he might not be able to hold it after contact because all his moves were accompanied by a fierce internal energy.
Shi Potian kept on randomly swiping and chopping his wiry sword for some time.
He saw Chong Xu withdrawing a bit, decided to calm himself down. Gradually the seventy-three moves of Golden phoenix sword skill came back to his mind. Although Chong Xu withdrew a bit but he attacked again with extreme speed. Shi Potian wanted to use the sword skill of Golden phoenix sect but he remembered that Grandma Si has created this set of sword skill to defeat ‘Snow mountain sword skill’. Its move were precisely to negate the various moves of Snow mountain sect. Its use will be completely incompatible with his opponent’s sword skill. He again felt perturbed in his heart and started to brandish his wiry sword on his whim randomly.
As he was moving his sword randomly he suddenly remembered his duel
with Bai Wanjian on the Azure Mist Island. He remembered how he lost the fight because he was not aware of some of the moves of his opponent. At this moment this Taoist priest's sword skills were even more ufamiliar and since he didn’t know anything about it so kept on randomly brandishing his wiry sword around himself.
This disorderly chaotic sword moves using some of the Golden phoenix sword moves and with vigorous internal energy formed a dazzling circle and Chong Xu didn’t dare to attack again.
All the Taoists and Shi couple were astonished. Chong Xu too was shocked but was getting more angry. He was a bit timid inside in his heart but still was a veteran martial-art expert and had seen sword skills of various sects and knew how to deal with them.
He saw this sword skill of Shi Potian was not only extremely simple and artless, but also disorderly. It was directly opposite the basic fundamentals of martial-art, irrespective of the opponent’s move he was simply moving his sword in a random manner, but whether correct or not at least his moves were extremely effective.
Chong Xu was getting anxious as the fight dragged on so he again launched about ten moves in succession. This time Shi Potian brandishes his sword in a circular motion and suddenly there was a big impact, both the sword collided. Chong Xu was expecting it and already using his full internal energy and grasped his sword really tightly, but Shi Potian has enormous internal energy. People called out in fear as they saw the sword of Chong Xu bent from the center in to right angle and blood dripping on it from his mouth.
Actually in a single stroke the famous expert of Shan Qing temple lost the fight. Even though he could sill fight but what face now he can show in martial-art world and in the Shan Qing temple.
Chong Xu went mad and threw his bent sword at Shi Potian, stretched his both hands to move towards him to grasp him immediately. Shi Potian moved his sword to smash the bent sword in the air but didn’t know what to do after that and hesitated as he saw Chong Xu was coming at great speed towards him, his palms pointing towards his critical acu-points.
This move of Chong Xu was extremely risky both ways. This move to attack the acu-point on the chest was very rare Shan Qing temple move. His both hands bumped in to his acu-points, but wasn’t able to seize them as Shi Potian’s internal energy was too strong for him and he felt a incredible force hitting him back and his body recoiled back, the more strength he applied, the more the reactive recoil hit him back. He couldn’t hold his more and actually sat on his bottom there only. He couldn’t believe he lost to this clown in such a big way.
Tian Xu quickly moved towards him to support him. He extended his palm to his left to give him support and gave a push by his internal energy. Chong Xu immediately leapt up to stand on his feet firmly but his face lost it’s color entirely.
Tian Xu drew out his sword, and said: "We really have a young hero among us, I really admire, well done! This poor priest will like to take advice from you young man; I only fears that I already have one foot in the grave, won’t be match to you."
