Ode to gallantry, p.77
Ode to Gallantry, page 77
Xie Yanke sneered and said: "I have to exterminate all of them in any case; it doesn’t matter if I kill the old first and then kills the younger ones."
As soon as Grandma Shi and Bai Wanjian and others got there, they started to fight. Although Bai Wanjian had good martial art skills but he was no match to the sky scrapping resident. In a few moves, he was surrounded by perils. Cheng Zixue and Liao Zimian earlier heard Xie Yanke proclaiming that he is here to exterminate the entire snow mountain sect and immediately went forward to attack and also help Bai Wanjian. It was now three against one; still all of them couldn’t block his swift and fiercely matchless ‘Green Needles Clean-Palm Technique’. When Shi Potian entered the hall, Grandma Shi and Liang Zijin were on the verge of joining the fight. Unexpectedly Xie Yanke was greatly surprise and the fight stopped.
Shi ZhongYu saw that the martial arts of Shi Potian was really good and quite different from his and feared that the snow mountain sect will try to settle old matters with him. Shi Potian was also feeling awkward but saw A’Xiu safe and sound and felt relieved.
Although Dingdang adored Shi ZhongYu but also detested his relentless loose character, after spending so much time with Shi Potian and seeing his behavior in retrospection, actually she also secretly liked him.
By this time Shi Qing couple has understood that they actually came with Shi Potian to Ling Xiao city earlier. They were ashamed but could not control themselves to look the irony of the situation, they have already once admitting their mistake for not recognizing him correctly but now he has actually deceived them and pretended as their son.
The couple to shook their head and thought: "the Shi Qing couple can’t even recognize their son, they will become a big joke in the martial arts world, whenever they will run into the old friend in the future, they always be ridiculed for this incident."
They asked together: "Shi Bangzhu, why you did you disguised that sore throat and exchanged place with Yu’er?"
Grandma Shi heard Shi Potian saying that her husband is not willing to come out from the prison and actually asking her to go to Azure Conch Mountain, she hurriedly asked: "Who won in that fight between you and your grandfather? Why did your grandfather wants me to go to Azure Conch Mountain?"
Xie Yanke asked: "How are there two Gouzazhong? What is this matter?"
Bai Wanjian shouted loudly: "Shi Zhong Yu, what is happening?"
Dingdang said: "You have not told anything yet…you haven’t revealed the secret, isn’t it?"
Several people asked Shi Potian questions after another and he didn’t who to answer first….he opened his mouth to reply but got confused?
He saw a middle-aged woman coming out from the back of the hall and asked A’Xiu: "A’Xiu, in between these two boys, which one is good, which one is bad?" This woman was wife of Bai Wanjian and mother of A’Xiu. When she heard about A’Xiu falling from the cliff, her mental state became unstable because of grief. When the first generation disciples like Qi Zimian, Liao Zili and others revolted, no one paid attention to her. This time when A’Xiu returned to the Ling Xiao city along with her grandmother, she first went to see her mother. She was the favored daughter and her mother sobered immediately after seeing that she is safe. Now when the hall was in confusion than he at this moment she opened her mouth to ask.
Grandma Shi called out loudly: "No one quarrel, if everyone will ask at the same time than how will this matter be resolved?"
As soon as the people listened o her, they calmed down. Xie Yanke sneered but also no longer spoke.
Grandma Shi said: "You reply me first, you and grandfather contend in martial arts; who won?"
The snow mountain sect people looked at Shi Potian, under their heart they were all worried. Bai Zizai was extremely arrogant, perverse and violent, although people were very discontented but if he lost to this youth then the reputation of the snow mountain send will be swept to the floor, this was also not a small matter.
They only heard Shi Potian saying: "Naturally, grandfather won, how I can match grandfather in martial arts? Grandfather said that he will teach me some shallow skills, he hit me about 70-80 fists and also kicked me about 20-30 times but I did not manage to hit even a single fist or kick."
Bai Wanjian and others felt relieved in their heart as they listened to him.
Grandma Shi narrowed her eyes and looked at him, she asked: "Why are you not injured?"
Shi Potian said: "Grandfather had shown mercy. Afterward he got tired and sat down on the ground; I saw his breathing was irregular so I helped him. At this moment he is excellent condition."
Xie Yanke sneered and said: "So that's how it is!"
Grandma Shi said: "What did your grandfather say?"
Shi Potian said: "He said: I got crazy in my arrogance, and something about sin and grave, you go from this place quickly, I henceforth want to see no but only the wall, ask your grandmother to go to Azure Conch Mountain and leave the Ling Xiao city and never return again." He didn’t know some characters and idioms so gave his own version. Bai Zizai said "sin is grave" and "conceitedly" and "faces the wall to think of faults", he was unable to repeat but other people actually guessed correctly.
Grandma Shi got angry: "This old man, what is he talking? Why would I go to Azure Conch Mountain?"
Grandma Shi was called Xiao Cui when she was young because she was pretty like a flower. Several people in the martial arts world really adored her. Bei Zizai and Ding Busi were most outstanding of the suitors. Bai Zizai as always arrogant and Shi Xiaocui did not want to marry him but her parents settled on Bai Zizai because he was more famous and better martial arts. So she was finally betrothed to the leader of the snow mountain sect. At the beginning, Shi Xiaocui often quarreled with her husband and also complained about her own parents and even said that if she was married to Ding Busi then this thing might not be happening.
Actually the conduct of Ding Busi was more eccentric, he was far worse than Bai Zizai but as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.
Shi Xiaocui sometimes just to annoy her husband used to admire Ding Busi and intentionally exaggerate his skills and within half a minute will actually spoke of his ten skills. Bai Zizai was always greatly irritated but actually had no alternative. This matter continued but soon she gave birth to Bai Wanjian. Shi Xiaocui raised her beloved son in Ling Xiao city and afterwards never ever mentioned Ding Busi again for dozens of years. Bai Zizai also didn’t think about this matter and actually did doubt her.
Unexpectedly after getting to this old age, Grandma Shi left the Ling Xiao city after that incident with Shi ZhongYu and A’Xiu. Bai Zizai slapped her on her face so she rescued A’Xiu and didn’t return back in anger and proceeded toward the central plains and vowed to teach her husband a good lesson.
They were passing through Wuchang prefecture when unexpectedly they ran in to Ding Busi. Both people had bid their farewell in young age and after her marriage they never got the opportunity to meet again but the circumstances were a lot different this time. Ding Busi had in his foolishness never married throughout. He invited her to Azure Conch Mountain and stay their. Both people were around sixty years old so one cannot say that his sentiments were romantic in nature but Ding Busi never let go the disappointment of not marrying Shi Xiaocui and just wanted her to set her foot at the Azure Conch Mountain once and than he can rest in peace.
Grandma Shi resisted this idea but Ding Busi did not relent. He kept on striving and afterwards this matter actually dragged on for a long time. Grandma Shi got extremely angry, after all the discussion reached a stalemate, they fought for several moves. The martial art of Grandma Shi was inferior to Ding Busi but he did not want to hurt her. Whenever there was a crucial moment, he would always show mercy. Grandma Shi was mad and also anxious to match him. She was practicing some martial arts when she got some severe internal injury and Ding Busi caught them on the river boat unexpectedly with A’Xiu. She didn’t want to go to Azure Conch Mountain so she threw herself from the boat and tried to suicide. Fortunately Shi Potian was there and he helped them to save their lives. Afterward when she saw Ding brothers and Bai Wanjian in the Azure Mist Island, Grandma Shi was not willing to meet either of them as it would have been awkward so she took A’Xiu and ran away from that mountain.
Ding Busi hadn’t seen Xiaocui for dozens of years but after meeting her again he couldn’t brought her to Azure Conch Mountain because of her stubbornness. He said that he will do anything to get her to Azure Conch Mountain at least once. He knew that the he has enmity with her husband but if he can capture him and bring him to Azure Conch Island then she will definitely set her foot on Azure Conch Mountain. Usually his relation with his elder brother was not that good but for this task he asked for his help and both brothers came to Ling Xiao city.
When Ding brothers arrived at the Ling Xiao city, Grandma Shi had not returned. When Ding Busi received this information that she is not there, he fabricated a story that Xiaocui had arrived on the Azure Conch Mountains and had stayed there for a lot of time. He was really sad that Xiaocui didn’t come to his place so and also that he couldn’t marry when the opportunity was there. Bai Zizai was his love rival and he really wanted to hurt him. Initially Bai Zizai didn’t believe that Grandma Shi went there but Ding Busi rephrased the words of grandma Shi in his own words and spoke in a convincing manner. Everything he told fitted perfectly and he couldn’t restrain himself from believing his lies. After some time they all started fighting and both parties got injured but Bai Zizai let them go and they immediately left the city.
Although the Ding brothers left but Bai Zizai took their word to his heart. He got extremely angry and the bitterness didn’t leave his heart. And he actually became more and more mentally unstable as the days went past and created havoc in the Ling Xiao city.
After Grandma Shi returned to the Ling Xiao city and saw her husband in such pathetic condition, in her heart she regretted her decision to leave and thought that his condition is partly because his arrogance and partly because of her leaving him. When she heard Shi Potian saying that at this moment he is sitting facing towards the wall and asked her to go to Azure Conch Mountain and never come back then she thought immediately: "We have been husband and wife and have arrived at such a old age, how can it be that I can bid good-bye again? He must be punishing himself in the stone prison; I will also accompany him there and will die with him in the same place." Suddenly she changed her mind and thought: "I can take hundred million knives to let go the position of sect leader but I have to go to island of heroes and keep the appointment. If I avoid this then how can I see my disciple to lose his life futilely and A’Xiu as a widow in such a young age? This matter is hard to be satisfactory to both sides, but what else can be done? Oh, I have to think about this matter later first let us handle this old lunatic." And she turned towards him.
Bai Wanjian missed his father and wanted to go to him immediately but first his primary attention was towards his archenemy. The sect existence was in danger today and it was a matter of life and death, so he turned towards Xie Yanke to deal with him first.
Xie Yanke took a look at Shi ZhongYu and looked at Shi Potian, he was trying to distinguish who was actually Gouzazhong but was finding pretty hard. If he went by the manner in which they spoken then Shi Potian was most likely the Gouzazhong but when he compared the martial art skills and the ease with which he drew back Bai Wanjian, his martial art skills were really profound compared to Gouzazhong when he was at skyscraping cliff. He thought how can he acquire such a level of skills in such a short time? His face turned red and he shouted in great anger: "Out of you two boys, who is Gouzazhong?" When he shouted the lime mud and thin bamboos from the roof fell as he raised his hand to kill people.
Shi ZhongYu didn’t know that "Gouzazhong" (a colloquial abuse) was in fact the name of Shi Potian. He saw that Xie Yanke was extremely angry and might get violent. He thought that his plot to destroy the Snow mountain sect is anyway doomed. He reverted back to his original tendency to pass the blame on others and in the meanwhile wait for an opportunity to escape. He said immediately: "I am not, he…he is Gouzazhong!"
Xie Yanke stared at him and sneered, he said: "Aren't you really Gouzazhong?"
Shi ZhongYu looked at him and really got scared and said hurriedly: "I am not."
Xie Yanke looked at Shi Potian and asked: "Then you are Gouzazhong?"
Shi Potian nodded and said: "Yes, grandpa, you taught me how to practice martial arts, that day suddenly my whole body sometimes felt extremely cold and sometime really hot, the pain was difficult to bear and after that I fainted. Once I awoke I recovered and lots of strange thing happened. Grandpa, how were you doing in my absence? Who was washing your clothes and cooking meal for you. I often worry about you, I thought that how are managing your daily chores without me, it must be really painstaking you." His words were full of sincerity and care.
Xie Yanke didn’t doubt him now and thought: "This dumb kid really cares for me." He turns his head to Shi ZhongYu and asked: "You pretend to be this person, actually you asked me to do all of this…. Hmmm…your courage is not small…courage is not small!"
Shi Qing and Min Rou saw that Xie Yanke was really angry, his face was flushed red with anger and it was apparent that he was offended that this boy has deceived him, In his uncontrollable rage, even if put a hand then their son will be dead in a moment. They immediately leapt together hurriedly and stood in front of Shi Zhong and blocked his body from his attack.
Min Rou said quickly: "Master Xie, you are an elder in the martial art realm, please forgive this young child, he is ignorant, I ......I will ask him to kowtow and accept his crime to you!"
Xie in Yanke was concerned that Shi ZhongYu has fooled him and didn’t care if Shi couple were pleading in front of him. He sneered and said: "Xie bullying a young boy, how many knocks do you think that I will need to settle? Draw back!" As he said these two words "draws back", he moved both his hands and attacked both of them vigorously. Although the internal energy of Shi Qing and Min Rou was not superficial but unexpectedly they couldn’t manage to keep their foothold steady and fell several steps back.
Shi Potian saw Min Rou getting hit and was frightened incomparably, tears flowed copiously and he hurriedly called: "Grandpa, you cannot kill him!"
Xie Yanke was accumulating his internal energy in his right palm and was just making a move to attack Shi ZhongYu. Shi Potian not only saved Shi ZhongYu but also about ten-fifteen people around him in the hall. As soon as Shi Potian shouted out and asking Xie Yanke to not do a task he immediately held and turned his head to ask: "Do you want me not to kill him?" he thought that he might have to forgive this young boy but if that means that he will be free from the vow for black steel symbol then that will be a good deal. He looked at him with happy expression.
Shi Potian said: "Yes, this person is son of the Shi couple. Dingdang also likes him very much however ......however ......the behavior of this person is not good, he bullied A’Xiu and likes deceiving people, he also did a lot of misdemeanors in clan of eternal happiness."
Xie Yanke said: "You said that you want me not to kill him?" Although his martial art was such outstanding but as he spoke these words, the sound was unexpectedly somewhat trembling in fear that Shi Potian might renege.
Shi Potian said: "Good, please do not kill him. However this person always injures someone, it will better if you take him with you and teach him and make him a better person…a changed man…a good person. I want you to take him with you. Grandpa, your heart is the best; you kept me with you for several years and taught me martial arts. Since I was not able to find my mother, I was totally dependent on you and you only raised me. So long as this Brother Shi is following you, you will take good care of him surely and will turn into a good person."
"Heart is the best"…Shi Potian said these four words to thank him but Xie Yanke actually cannot restrain himself from getting angry. He thought that he only said these words to deride him and his complexion turned red but as he saw Shi Potian his mind changed and he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.
He knew that the Shi Potian had said these words with complete sincerity; he recalled that for several years, only he and Shi Potian were living on the skyscraping cliff. He was actually cunning to him but Shi Potian was always innocent and did not ever suspect his real intention. He thought that earlier he never paid attention but this boy was concerned about how I am cooking my food and washing my cloths in his absence. After he lost his mother, he actually stayed with him. Xie Yanke just wanted to take advantage of him but now as those memories flooded back, he was actually deeply grateful to him that he has only asked him to teach Shi ZhongYu but he thought in his heart: "Dumb kid is talking nonsense, I am always roaming in the martial art world and come and go freely, how can I tag along this lowly youth?"
He said: "I don’t consent to this matter, you want me not to kill this person, I have done that…now I am leaving. I say goodbye and henceforth we will never meet."
Shi Potian said: "No, no, grandpa, you…. If you don’t teach him well, he will deceive people or injure someone and finally will get killed by someone else and Madam Shi and Dingdang will again be sad. I ask you to teach him and take him with you, so long as he doesn’t become a good person, you cannot leave him. My mother taught me never to ask anything thing from someone however ......however this matter is really important, I must ask you."
Xie Yanke wrinkled his brow, he thought that this matter is kind of feminine and fussy; one can say that it is really difficult and the other hand one can also say that it is really easy too but if someone is not a good person by nature then how can he make him do the right things? This Shi ZhongYu is such a deceitful person that even if he is taught by Confucius, I am afraid one can’t say that he will be successful. If I agree for this matter then it will be a burden on my head until my death. He shook his head again and again, and said: "No...No…it won’t work, this matter I can’t agree to. You set this addition condition later….I can’t grant you that."
