Ode to gallantry, p.69
Ode to Gallantry, page 69
She said: "Grandma, these people are not the chief instigators, they are just lowly people who do as they are said, why don’t we await for the trial and will decide later."
Grandma Shi sighed and said: "Fine then walk quickly, follow me, do not delay it’s an important matter." She immediately moved outside with A’Xiu and Shi Potian following her.
Grandma Shi walked out of the lobby and moved extremely quickly, whenever she saw a person, she would quietly and quickly hide behind a door or around the corner. She seemed very familiar with each houses, roads and streets.
Shi Potian and A’Xiu walked side-by-side, he asked in a low voice: "What big merit does master want me to do? Who do I have to save?"
A’Xiu was about to answer when she heard the footsteps sound of about five-six people. Grandma Shi is hurriedly hid behind a pillar; A’Xiu pulled Shi Potian by his sleeves and found a hiding place nearby.
They only heard several people talking on the other side of the road. Someone said: "It’s good that everybody made a joint effort and managed to seize that old lunatic, now I am relaxed. Earlier I didn’t even eat or sleep without worrying. I would rest for a moment and then will wake afraid after a bad dream."
Another person said: "We have not killed that old lunatic, eventually it will be huge trouble in future. Actually elder brother himself was indecisive; I thought that this matter should be finished there and then only."
Another person with a deep and gruff voice said: "Getting rid of one won’t do, Elder brother will do something only if he manages to get both of them together."
A person shouted in loud voice: "Keeps silent! How can you talk out these matters in public? If Liao or Qi hears you fellows than I am afraid then your heads will start rolling on the ground."
The person with gruff voice refused to accept his command and said, said albeit in a lower voice: "Liao and Qi are fighting themselves, I am not certain that they have time for us."
This group of people gradually moved far away, Shi Potian and A’Xiu moved towards the door. Shi Potian looked at A’Xiu and saw her trembling slightly, asked in a low voice: "A’Xiu, are you afraid?"
A’Xiu said: "I ......I am really frightened. There are so many people, how can we fight them all?"
Grandma Shi was standing behind a pillar; she came out and said in a low voice: "Walk quickly." She moved forward quickly. Shi Potian and A’Xiu followed her and passed through the courtyard and then came across the corridor and then arrived in a big garden. In the garden everywhere was snow, however a cobblestone alley was spread around it and lead to a big hall.
Grandma Shi jumped to a tree to avoid the snow and from there jumped outside the hall. She patted the snow from her cloths and moved closer to the hall. As soon as she moved in closer to the hall two people who were patrolling the area saw her and rushed towards her with sword in their hand. Grandma Shi stood rigidly and motionless, let both people come to her and then moved the broadsword. In a single stroke she cut open the throat of both people and they didn’t even made a single sound.
Shi Potian was startled by the calmness with which Grandma Shi killed these two people in such a violent way. This move was also taught to him by Grandma Shi, it was called "Red flame in spring" but Shi Potian never thought that if he executes this move then he will be able kill people in such a clean way. He cannot help to restrain his heart from jumping madly.
Grandma Shi quickly hid the two corpses under a bush, doesn’t made any sound and arrived at outside of the hall and puts her ear close to the long window and listened attentively to the sounds coming from inside. Shi Potian and A’Xiu approached the window too and started listening. They only heard the voices of two people arguing intensely, although they were not fighting or shouting in loud voice but both these people looked really angry by their expressions.
They heard one person saying: "Tying up the tiger is easy but to hold him tied up is really difficult, I think you might have heard this proverb. I don’t want to sacrifice everybody for this matter. If that old lunatic get freed somehow or manage to escape then everybody will die without their burial ground."
Shi Potian thought: "They all are saying that "old lunatic", is it really possible that this was the same old person I tried to rescue in the prison? That person was really old and strange, I was trying to save him but he was not willing to come out, I am afraid he was really a lunatic, however his martial art was very fierce, no wonder everybody is so frightened of him."
They heard another person saying: "That old lunatic is already imprisoned in that jail, even if he has exceedingly high skills, still he can’t run away. We can kill him at this moment, it is really easy, you only don’t have to deliver food to him for some days, and he will starve to death in eight to ten days, isn’t it? When the people in the martial art realm will know about this that they will criticize and say that this is against righteousness and shameless, you Liao Shidi, I have no doubt that you do not care about them but what about rest of us? Will it not destroy the reputation of the Snow mountain sect in the martial art world?"
That person surnamed Liao sneered at him and said: "You are afraid to go against the old conventions and against the flow of events, what should a leader do at such time? Now this matter has come on head than you are pretending that you don’t want to involve yourself in this matter at all. Elder brother Qi, I recognize a hypocrite when I see one."
That person surnamed Qi said: "What exactly are you implying by saying thee words? Liao Shidi, if you want to say something than say but don’t accuse others."
That person surnamed Liao said: "I am saying what it is. Elder brother Qi, you just pretend to be an honest and upright person, you are trying to push the entire blame on my shoulder. It is actually a good strategy, killing two birds with one stone, you will get rid of me and also get the leadership uncontested." He said these words in a very loud voice.
That person surnamed Qi said: "You are seriously funny Shidi! Fellow disciple can all vouch that I already have the qualifications to take the leadership. I am the senior disciple as per the order, it’s obvious."
Some said in strong voice: "keep your struggle to yourselves, do not involve me."
That person surnamed Liao said: "Of course, you are the senior fellow-disciple, Elder brother Qi, you were honest and good-natured person. You were just acting on behalf of other people, more as a puppet. You must think clearly about this matter and then make any decision."
Shi Potian heard these words and realized that there were a lot many people in the hall than he expected earlier. He immediately licked the window paper and punctured a hole gently and put his eye to look inside. He saw that unexpectedly more than 200-300 people, everyone wearing white gown were sitting in the hall; obviously they were all the snow mountain sect disciples.
This was actually the main hall of the Snow mountain sect and they were having some kind of big meeting. There were five large round-backed wooden armchairs at the far end, the middle was empty, and on both sides four people were sitting. He heard them still arguing continuously, from their talk Shi Potian understood that the person sitting on the left were surnamed Cheng and Liao and the one on the right hand side was the person surnamed Qi, another sickly looking person was sitting on the fourth chair. He was very thin, looking distressed from facial expression and extremely ugly by look.
At this time that person surnamed Liao said to that old person: "Liang Shidi, you have not said a word from beginning to end, what are your views?"
This person Liang sighed and shook his head and didn’t spoke.
That person surnamed Qi said: "Liang Shidi did not speak, as he already know that you are talking nonsense."
That person surnamed Liao got angry and said: "You are not a roundworm in the stomach of Liang Shidi then how do you know that he is thinking that? This matter can be resolved if we four people help each other and come to a conclusion. We should all take the responsibility like real men and deal with this uncertainty, what do you say?"
That person surnamed Qi said: "Everybody covets life and fears death but we have come to this situation because of the desperate risk taken by some people."
That person surnamed Liao said in a loud voice suddenly: "Wan Li, you should also say something, how should we manage this situation?"
From the crowd, one person came out with his broken hand, "Dragon of wind and fire" Feng Wanli bowed in front of them and said: "Disciple is not used to these kinds of social meetings and matters however it will be catastrophic and a heinous crime if we harm him in our custody. The disciples approve of the Qi Shishu’s idea that we cannot act again to commit such a violent treachery."
That person surnamed Liao said in a stern voice: "Then how do we deal with the disciples who have returned from the central plains?"
Feng Wanli said: "Shishu, I think it will be better to keep everybody of them in custody for the time being here in the city and then we will talk with each of them and decide."
That person surnamed Liao sneered and said: "Heh! Heh! Your idea is to imprison them all and then slowly interview them? I think I understand what really you want."
Feng Wanli said: "Liao Shishu, what do you mean by these words?"
That person surnamed Liao said: "Your disciples overwhelm us with numerical strength, your martial art skills are also high, and you will not attain the position of sect leader so you want to push all the blame on my head and got me killed. Four of my disciples are already dead here, you think I don’t understand your plan!"
He shouted in a loud voice and called out suddenly: "Fellow disciples, this is a really calamitous situation. These people want to get rid of us now and here. If we don’t stamp this source of trouble here then they will all butcher us!" As he said these words he took out his sword.
In a moment, several people rushed out forward and pulled out their swords. Suddenly about twenty-thirty people were surrounding Feng Wanli with swords in their hand. Another set of about sixty-seventy people surrounded then all.
Shi Potian thought: "It seems like Master Feng is being overwhelmed by sheer numbers of these people, do not know that I should help which side?"
Feng Wanli yelled: "Cheng Shishu, Qi Shishu and Liang Shishu, are you also surrounded by disciples of Liao Shishu? Fourth branch is with him; take the second, third and fifth branch to retaliate."
The person surnamed Liao shouted: "Start!" Suddenly the fight started in the hall. Someone took out his sword and tried to stab Feng Wanli at his chest. Feng Wanli moved quickly and drew out the sword with his left and parried the incoming attack. He only heard a scoffing sound as suddenly his right sleeve was cut off by another attack.
Feng Wan Li and Bai Wanjian shared the honor of the best second generation martial art expert of the Snow mountain sect and their level of martial art expertise was just below these four but after he lost his right arm, he was still uncomfortable with using sword his left hand. That person surname Liao moved against him. This sword move has different variations and he traversed his sword a lot however Feng Wanli knew perfectly well that move of the opposite party and his background but the sword in his left hand didn’t actually moved as he intended and unfortunately only lost a piece of his sleeve. He attacked at Feng Wanli but after two moved drew himself back and two other people took his place and attacked him.
That person surnamed Liao again shouted: "Why haven’t you attacked yet?"
At this call all the sixty-seventy disciple of his fourth branch attacked rest of the disciples. Every one was fighting with another, the entire hall was in chaos and bright light sparkled in the hall as sword clashed with clanking sound of metal filling the hall and reverberating again and again. The snow mountain sect people who have assembled to discuss official business in the hall suddenly turned it in to the battlefield immediately.
That person surnamed Liao leaped over his people and saw that only second, third and fifth branch were retaliating and fighting against his disciples.
When he saw them all moving against him, he went wild with rage and yelled: "Second branch, third branch and fifth branch, you all are manipulated. These people are taking advantage of you and you all are ruining the big dream of this Snow mountain sect!"
His both eyes turned red and he moved towards his arch rival Qi. Two people parried and stabbed each other for quite some time. In term of martial arts, that person surnamed Liao was better that Qi and after about ten moves he forced him back repetitively.
That old sickly looking person held his sword, said: "The fourth branch, as they say, if the leader is such a barbarian then what will happen to the followers?" He moved towards the person surnamed Liao and attacked him. The person surnamed Qi saw the small advantage and immediately attacked Liao and stabbed towards his lower abdomen. The person surnamed Liao knew that he has met his doom so he also went reckless and started attacking all out.
Suddenly all three of them were attacking person surnamed Liao but his sword skills were good and survived against all of these three fellow apprentices but it was only a matter of time before they subdued him.
The numerous disciples of second, third and fifth branch saw their masters working in unison against the fourth branch and immediately attacked them with more vigor and intensity. In a few moments the tide turned completely and the fourth branch was butchered as shouts of anger, screams of despair echoed in the hall.
A’Xiu pulled Shi Potian on her side and said: "Elder brother, I ......I am afraid…."
Shi Potian asked: "What is the matter? Why is everybody fighting?"
At this time everybody in the hall was busy in their own matter of life and death and no one cared if someone was talking outside or not.
Grandma Shi sneered and said: "Good, good, they are hitting well, killing each other so cleanly…it really like it.
Chapter 17 - Arrogant Insane Cheng
About a crowd of two hundred to three hundred was suddenly in sword fight, all were wearing identical white colored clothes and using similar long swords so it was pretty difficult to distinguish who is friend and who is enemy. Originally fourth branch was fighting with third branch but later second and fifth branch come in the aid of third. However afterwards some people started to take this opportunity to settle their own personal feuds with other people and started killing overtly or subtly whichever way it was possible. It was total chaos and confusion as no one knew what’s going on.
Suddenly they heard a loud voice of something getting struck or falling to the ground and the two doors of the hall flew open with a loud bang sound and they heard a clear and resonant voice: "The envoys of the island of heroes have arrived to the Snow mountain sect to pay a visit and meet the leader of the sect!"
The pronunciation was such clear and bright that all the pandemonium kind of froze and everyone suddenly looked at these two people.
The people were surprised; some people gave up fighting and leapt in the one side. Gradually the others too stopped and got in control of their emotions and drew back to the wall and besides the groan of the wounded, there was no sound in the hall. Also at that moment the people who were severely wounded too also stopped crying and looked at the doors.
They saw two people standing at the entrance side by side, one fat person with a smiling face and another thin person with a sad facial expression. Shi Potian saw Zhang San and Li Si arriving at the door, he was nearly going to call but stopped himself at the last moment as he remembered he was still hiding and Grandma Shi didn’t want to reveal her position at this moment.
Zhang San said with a smile on his face: "No wonder the martial art of snow mountain sect is so famous in the martial art world. Actually other schools practice martial arts but you people stab and chop and unexpectedly even kill for attaining greater heights…So earnest, rare… rare! I really admire, I really admire!"
That person surnamed Liao, known as Liao Zili stepped up forward and said: "Are you two honorable people envoys from the island of heroes?"
Zhang San said: "Do you know who the leader of the snow mountain sect is? We are from the island of the heroes and want to invite the leader of the sect to eat the meat gruel and present him with these bronze medals."
As he said these words he took out two bronze medals from his bosom and turned towards Li Si and said: "I have heard that the leader of the snow mountain sect is the "power and virtue gentleman" old master Bai however no one looks like him."
Li Si shook his head and said:" I too do not find anyone looking like him."
Liao Zili said: "Old master Bai has already died, the new leader ......" he has not even finished his words, Feng Wanli interrupted and scolded: "Breaks wind! The "power and virtue gentleman" has not died, but ......"
Liao Zili got angry: "You spoke to your Shishu in this manner, where is the discipline and respects for the elders?"
Feng Wanli replied: "Your kind of person doesn’t deserve to be respected even if he is elder!"
Liao Zili took out his sword and attacked at Feng Wanli. Feng Wanli too wielded his sword to deflect his attack and drew back one step. Liao Zili moved forward and attacked him with a straight sword move. Another disciple came forward and attacked him. Immediately Qi Zimian and Liang Zijin too wielded their sword and killed a couple of people.
The snow mountain sect was actually a big sect; the rivalry among different clans and families within the sect was significant. These four people were obviously jealous of each other and take the side as per the opportunity. At this time when there was no leader and the leadership was at grab, these people didn’t care about the danger from these two envoys of "Command of reward and punishment" but thought to take advantage of this situation to gain upper hand in the internal struggle of the sect first and then later handle the matter of invitation to island of heroes.
Zhang San said with a smile: "Every one is thoroughly busy to study the swordsmanship and improve his martial art skill…this is a fine deed but you people can do this later, we don’t have that much time. Does the snow mountain sect have a leader?"
