Ode to gallantry, p.80
Ode to Gallantry, page 80
Ding Busi muttered: "I ......How would I know?"
That female said: "When elder sister was at the point of death, she assigned me to find you and find that girl's whereabouts. She wanted me to look after this girl. You ......You are a heartless, cruel smelly thief, you have ruined the life of my elder sister and here you are actually worrying about others' wife."
The face of Ding Busi turned ashen, he felt as if knees are buckling under his weight as if someone has cut off his legs. He sat on the chair dejectedly.
That female said fiercely: "Is that girl alive or dead?"
Ding Busi said: "Twenty years ago, she was alive, afterward I don’t know."
That female said: "Why don't you look for her?"
Ding Busi was speechless for a moment, he only said: "This ......This ......was not easy. Some people said that she has arrived at the island of heroes but I don’t know the details."
Shi Potian saw that female was short in height, her face was veiled and he was able to see a thick mourning band. Her appearance did not look clear but she looked strong and ominous. He knew that Ding Busi can kill anyone without batting an eye but unexpectedly he was afraid of her.
The sound of drums and other woodwind instruments again started as a man in yellow clothes came out and said in a clear and resonant voice: "The leaders of the island of heroes, Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu are appearing in front of honored guest." (***Daozhu = island master/host)
The heart of numerous guests started palpitating, everybody by this time was aware that the island of heroes has two leaders, one surnamed Long and another surnamed Mu.
The gate opened and two rows of men and women came. The one on the right side were in yellow cloths and the one on left-hand side color puts on blue.
That person continued with his ritual and called out: "Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu and numerous disciples welcome the distinguished guests."
They saw that the two envoys of command of reward and punishment were also standing among these two rows of people. Zhang San had put on yellow clothes and was placed on the right hand side on eleventh position and Li Si had put on blue clothes and was placed on the left-hand side on thirteenth position in the row of twenty people.
The people cannot help but sucked in cold air. The martial arts of Zhang San and Li Si were incomparable in the martial art world and everybody had personally seen it and they thought: "No wonder no one came from this island of heroes in last thirty years. Not to mention the other people, these two people can single handedly get rid of numerous heroes in the central plains and have become a famous characters. No one even managed to fight twenty moves with them and these are just two of the followers?"
These two rows of disciples respectively took there place and respectfully bowed to salute the numerous heroes. Everyone hurriedly returned the greetings. Sometime back Zhang San and Li Si were roaming in the central plains and inviting people and presenting them with bronze medal, murdered people and even slaughtered the entire sects but at this moment after they have returned to the island, unexpectedly they did look respectful and prudent.
Amidst a fine tune of music, two old men came in shoulder to shoulder in the hall; one was wearing yellow and another blue.
That person announcing called out loudly: "The island hosts welcome the honored guest for their presence." Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu bowed and then clasped their fist in their hand to greet everyone and the numerous heroes too returned their greetings.
That person surnamed Long smiled and said: "I and Brother Mu live in this out-of-the-way desert island, today we are fortunate to see so many heroes and feel really honored. Above in the desert island, various things are crude and we did not receive you cordially, please accept our apology for it." his voice was really gentle and by his accent he looked like a person from the central plains.
Mu Daozhu said: "Everyone, please take your seats." His pronunciation was really sharp and his accent resembled to one from Fujian area.
After numerous guests took their seat, Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu too took their seat on the west side of the hall. The numerous disciples actually did not take any seat and relaxed but still kept standing.
Numerous guests thought in their heart: "These people from the island of heroes are really overbearing, if the visitor does not come then they kill his whole family or sect but after we have arrived in the island, their etiquette is actually really thorough. These are hypocritical people." Some thought: "We are prisoners anyway, what difference it makes if they give us poison in food or decapitate us."
The people looked at the two island hosts; the complexion of Long Daozhu was a bit white and a bit red, as if like a child. On the other hand Mu Daozhu was of dark complexion with and his face was actually full of wrinkles. No one was actually able to guess how old are they, they could have been anywhere between sixty to ninety but if someone told them that they are hundred years old then still it won’t be unbelievable.
As various people took their seat, numerous servants came out immediately and started pouring out wine and serving cooked food. On everyone’s table, there were four plates, four bowls, eight different kinds of delicacies, chicken, meat, fish and shrimp and the food smelled really appetizing.
Once Shi Potian settled down on his eat, he looked around in all direction. He saw several recognizable faces in the hall, the Taoist from ShanQing temple, Fan Yifei from the Guangdong along with Lu Zhengping and Gao San Niangzi had also arrived. They all were actually frightened and didn’t say any words to Shi Potian but simply nodded and silently greeted him.
The two island hosts held their wine cup and said: "Please!" and started drinking wine.
The numerous heroes saw that the wine had a glossy look and was of pale purple color. It was really cold and had a very nice aroma but people thought in their heart: "Who knows what kind of a fierce poison is in this wine." Most of them raised their glasses and touched to their lips but no one actually drank the wine.
Only a small number of people thought: "The opposite party can harm me with a slight effort, what if this wine has some poison, even if one dies then at least die drinking this good wine." They raised their glass to drink up immediately; the servants were all on their heels and filled the cup as soon as it was empty.
After the two island hosts drank the wine for about three rounds, Long Daozhu raised his left hand to signal. Immediately a group of servants came in the hall with large bowls. Each bowl was full of some kind of gruel and they placed it in front of every guest separately.
The numerous guests thought: "So this is the famous "Eight meat gruel" …everyone knows in the martial art realm." They saw hot vapor coming out of gruel, small bubbles coming up from bottom, the color of the gruel was deep green color and it looked a bit strange however one was unable to say what actually is weird about it. The original meat gruel is made up of red jujube, husked lotus, and red bean and so on but at present in this gruel, the vegetable does not look like the vegetable but some kind of a grass and the gruel was extremely thickly. The various masters knew that the poison normally assumes the dark green color, this bowl of gruel was also deep green and also the smell of the gruel was really irritating to the nose and it felt like some kind of medicated gruel.
Gao San Niangzi smelled a whiff and was scared in her heart. She thought who knows was kind of a poisonous snakes, centipede, spider and scorpion are inside this boiling gruel and felt like vomiting. As the person carrying the bowl of gruel came near her table, she extended her sleeve to cover up her nose.
Long Daozhu said: "I am honored that each one of you has traveled such a distance to come to this banquet. Actually this bowl of meat gruel is very rare and you won’t find it anywhere else. It is actually prepared from "broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass". This grass is really rare and it blooms in to flower and separate from its grass once in every ten years. This is why we wait for ten years to invites the leaders from the martial art realm after every ten years. He counted on his fingers and said that this is the fourth such invitation. Please, please, do not be polite." As he was saying these words, he and Mu Daozhu took the bowl of gruel in their left hand and lifted the chopsticks from their right hand and invite everyone.
The people heard the name "broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass" and were shocked in their heart. Although after arriving in the island, everybody had not planned that they will depart alive but the name of this herb which was used to make this meat gruel was soul-stirring and unexpectedly this Long Daozhu promulgated it such blatantly, they cannot help but the complexion of everyone turned pale.
They only saw the two island hosts Mu Daozhu and Long Daozhu lifting their chopsticks and hinting everyone to start eating then lifted their bowl to eat.
The numerous guests thought: "In your two bowls of gruel, you might have put ginseng and bird’s nest or some tonic…who knows."
Suddenly a person stood on the eastern end and pointed at the two island hosts loudly: "Surnamed Long, surnamed Mu listen, I, Xie Wenbao arrived at the island of heroes and already assumed that I am dead but I have an indomitable spirit and I am an honest man. If you have to kill then you must hack but how can someone surnamed Mu wrinkle his frowns and wants me to eat this dirty poison, I won’t!"
Long Daozhu was surprised, he said with a smile: "If the hero is not inclined to eat the gruel then how dare do we force you to do so? Actually why are you losing your temper? Please sit."
Xie Wenbao shouted loudly: "I surnamed Wenbao is not afraid to die…one dies early or late what difference does it make, everyone dies in the end but you people are bent on insulting everyone of us. I won’t accept this disrespect!" As he was saying these words he took the bowl of hot gruel and threw it at the island hosts.
Suddenly an old man sitting two tables away from Xie Wenbao stood up and shouted: "Xie my worthy brother, don’t play rough!" He stroked his gown sleeves and sent out a strong breeze, the bowl of gruel was stopped in the mid-air. That bowl of gruel was no longer moving forward but kind of hung in the air for moment and then started falling downwards. Everyone thought that it was going to falls on that mosaic floor and gruel will be splashed everywhere however the servant pouring wine suddenly slanted his body vertically and bent his waist and stretched out his arm. He was just in time to lift-off the bowl about several inches from ground.
The numerous guests couldn’t restrain themselves and cheered him loudly: "well done!"
Just and the sound of applause died, everyone was deeply worried and they thought: "If the person who is waiting tables and is a lowly servant is so skillful then how can we even think of living this place alive?"
Various people were perturbed in their heart by this incident, some started thinking of their descendants and family; Some were thinking of their old enmity; Some thought that at least even if one person is dying, their sect and families are safe, on the other hand some people deeply regretted their decision to come to island of heroes and thought that perhaps it would have been better if they would have hidden in some remote mountain. Some people always thought that they have been really fortunate in life and will find some way to avoid this calamity once they are in the island of the heroes but after watching a servant so exceptionally skill, even they too lost the hope of overpowering the island host and escaping.
A middle-aged person with a demeanor of a scholar stood up and called out: "The servants of the island hosts are skillful; they can easily defeat the heroes in the central plains. If the two islands hosts want the martial arts world to rule then it will be as easy as pie. I don’t understand why have we all gathered here? When I came to this island then I already knew that I won’t return back from this island but I am having this doubt in my heart for such a long time and it will be great injustice if I die without knowing the truth. The two island hosts, please enlightening me and open this mental block, this question is bugging me down to death."
Actually everyone in that hall was having the same thoughts but no one spoke these words because they thought other will think of him as inferior but deep in their heart they were now anxious to hear the answer. They all looked at the two island hosts with great anticipation.
Long Daozhu said with a smile: "’West gate lives first’ does not need to be too modest."
As soon as the numerous guests listened these words, they all turned their head to look that that scholarly person as if by prior agreement and thought: "Is this the same person who shocked the martial art world about 20 years ago, "the west region scholar" or "west region acme of perfection"? Looking at him, he doesn’t look more than 40 years old but more than 20 years ago, he killed the seven tyrants of North Shanxi by his palm and incited the eight stockades of the Hubei region within three days. However he was already about 40 at that time but he still looked the same age so people were really confused if this is the same person or not but they were unaware that there was someone else in the martial art world with the same name and also with the same scholarly look."
They only heard Long Daozhu saying: "West region scholar", you had executed seven tyrants with your palm and the eight strongholds ......" (Everyone thought: so he is the same person) "......I and brother Mu have admired you for such a long time; we don’t dare to be impolite."
The west region scholar said: "Does not dare; that was way back in the past and was such a minor matter. I might have flaunted crazily in the central plains for a while but here it will be a similar to a novices trick in front of island hosts."
Long Daozhu said: "West gate lived first is too modest. Your Excellency asked just now that what are the desires of us two people, I will explain to you but first you have to start eating this gruel of ‘broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass' while it is hot. Everybody please first sip the gruel and then I will tell in detail."
Shi Potian listened to these two people talking politely and using numerous idioms, he didn’t understood half of them but he was getting hungry and was suppressing it for some time. Once the gruel was served in front of him, he wanted to start eating but waited for others to do so. However once Long Daozhu said to start eating then he immediately took the gruel bowl and started eating. At first the smell of the gruel was really irritating him but once he put the gruel in his mouth, it wasn’t as bad and in fact he like it and immediately finished off the bowl upside down.
Some people thought: "This boy does not know the immensity of heaven and earth, this person flaunts his temporary boldness and looks like a stubborn person. He will be soon knocking the Gate of Death if he continues to do so."
Some thought: "Anyway we are going to die, at least this young hero is not afraid, and he is like a fresh breeze in this closed underground hall."
Bai Zizai cheered: "Wonderful! Husband of my granddaughter from snow mountain sect is not ordinary." He still thought that his sect was the best sect among all the various sects in this world. So he mentioned Shi Potian and his sect both in the same line.
When Bai Zizai left the Ling Xiao city after fighting with Grandma Shi, he was deeply frustrated. He believed these words his entire life: "the leader of the snow mountain sect "power and virtue gentleman" is easily the best swordsman in the world through the ages, his internal strength is the best, his skills in the concealed weapons is the best, he is a big hero and chivalrous person, a great master of profound learning and integrity".
When he saw the skill of the servant who was simply pouring wine, at first he too was amazed but then thought perhaps these people have deliberately planted a high martial art exponent in disguise of servant and it might not be necessarily true that the martial art of island of heroes is best in the world.
He saw Shi Potian does not caring about the poison in the gruel and said "Husband of my granddaughter from snow mountain sect" and was quite self-satisfied by him and the heroic spirit rushed in his heart too. He also took the gruel bowl immediately and started eating it and finished it in flash.
He thought: "All the people in this hall did not dare to eat this gruel, only I and this boy have the courage to eat it, what kind of a heroic people are these fellows?" But he immediately remembered: "I am the second person of who has eaten this gruel, even if I am a heroic person still I am actually the world second greatest. They should remove the characters "big hero" from my title. He cannot help but was again greatly depressed and thought: "Since after eating this poisonous gruel, anyway we are going to die so why not drink first and die? Now since I have become the "world’s second best", it’s actually is quite dull."
He was lost in his own thought and regrets and didn’t hear the words of Long Daozhu.
Long Daozhu said: "About forty years ago, I and brother Mu became friends, we wanted to collaborate in the martial art realm to punish the wicked and help the good people but unexpectedly we have to leave martial art realm. We actually discovered a map; in that map there were the details and location of a nameless desert island and an earthshaking martial art secret ......"
Xie Wenbao inserted with a sneer: "This obviously was island of heroes, how can it be a nameless desert island?"
The old man who has flicked his sleeve to keeps off the gruel bowl shouted: "Brother Xie, Please don’t break the thread of conversation of Long Daozhu."
Xie Wenbao said resentfully: "You are desperate to flatter; he will not necessarily forgive your life."
That old man got angry and took the bowl of meat gruel and ate it in one breath. Once he completed the bowl, he said: "Your and I have crossed each other for half a lifetime, do you still remember when you used to call Zheng Guangzhi elder brother?"
Xie Wenbao said with great regret: "Eldest brother, I have made a mistake; little brother will accompany you to nether world."
He knelt down immediately and kowtowed in front of him thrice and then took the bowl of meat gruel from the table and finished it off in one breath. Zheng Guangzhi came and hugged him and said: "Brother, you and I became sworn brothers in the past; we swore that we were not born on same month and same day in the same year but will die on same month and same day in the same year. This vow actually is really difficult to fulfill but today we get the opportunity, at least our vow was not in vain."
That female said: "When elder sister was at the point of death, she assigned me to find you and find that girl's whereabouts. She wanted me to look after this girl. You ......You are a heartless, cruel smelly thief, you have ruined the life of my elder sister and here you are actually worrying about others' wife."
The face of Ding Busi turned ashen, he felt as if knees are buckling under his weight as if someone has cut off his legs. He sat on the chair dejectedly.
That female said fiercely: "Is that girl alive or dead?"
Ding Busi said: "Twenty years ago, she was alive, afterward I don’t know."
That female said: "Why don't you look for her?"
Ding Busi was speechless for a moment, he only said: "This ......This ......was not easy. Some people said that she has arrived at the island of heroes but I don’t know the details."
Shi Potian saw that female was short in height, her face was veiled and he was able to see a thick mourning band. Her appearance did not look clear but she looked strong and ominous. He knew that Ding Busi can kill anyone without batting an eye but unexpectedly he was afraid of her.
The sound of drums and other woodwind instruments again started as a man in yellow clothes came out and said in a clear and resonant voice: "The leaders of the island of heroes, Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu are appearing in front of honored guest." (***Daozhu = island master/host)
The heart of numerous guests started palpitating, everybody by this time was aware that the island of heroes has two leaders, one surnamed Long and another surnamed Mu.
The gate opened and two rows of men and women came. The one on the right side were in yellow cloths and the one on left-hand side color puts on blue.
That person continued with his ritual and called out: "Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu and numerous disciples welcome the distinguished guests."
They saw that the two envoys of command of reward and punishment were also standing among these two rows of people. Zhang San had put on yellow clothes and was placed on the right hand side on eleventh position and Li Si had put on blue clothes and was placed on the left-hand side on thirteenth position in the row of twenty people.
The people cannot help but sucked in cold air. The martial arts of Zhang San and Li Si were incomparable in the martial art world and everybody had personally seen it and they thought: "No wonder no one came from this island of heroes in last thirty years. Not to mention the other people, these two people can single handedly get rid of numerous heroes in the central plains and have become a famous characters. No one even managed to fight twenty moves with them and these are just two of the followers?"
These two rows of disciples respectively took there place and respectfully bowed to salute the numerous heroes. Everyone hurriedly returned the greetings. Sometime back Zhang San and Li Si were roaming in the central plains and inviting people and presenting them with bronze medal, murdered people and even slaughtered the entire sects but at this moment after they have returned to the island, unexpectedly they did look respectful and prudent.
Amidst a fine tune of music, two old men came in shoulder to shoulder in the hall; one was wearing yellow and another blue.
That person announcing called out loudly: "The island hosts welcome the honored guest for their presence." Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu bowed and then clasped their fist in their hand to greet everyone and the numerous heroes too returned their greetings.
That person surnamed Long smiled and said: "I and Brother Mu live in this out-of-the-way desert island, today we are fortunate to see so many heroes and feel really honored. Above in the desert island, various things are crude and we did not receive you cordially, please accept our apology for it." his voice was really gentle and by his accent he looked like a person from the central plains.
Mu Daozhu said: "Everyone, please take your seats." His pronunciation was really sharp and his accent resembled to one from Fujian area.
After numerous guests took their seat, Long Daozhu and Mu Daozhu too took their seat on the west side of the hall. The numerous disciples actually did not take any seat and relaxed but still kept standing.
Numerous guests thought in their heart: "These people from the island of heroes are really overbearing, if the visitor does not come then they kill his whole family or sect but after we have arrived in the island, their etiquette is actually really thorough. These are hypocritical people." Some thought: "We are prisoners anyway, what difference it makes if they give us poison in food or decapitate us."
The people looked at the two island hosts; the complexion of Long Daozhu was a bit white and a bit red, as if like a child. On the other hand Mu Daozhu was of dark complexion with and his face was actually full of wrinkles. No one was actually able to guess how old are they, they could have been anywhere between sixty to ninety but if someone told them that they are hundred years old then still it won’t be unbelievable.
As various people took their seat, numerous servants came out immediately and started pouring out wine and serving cooked food. On everyone’s table, there were four plates, four bowls, eight different kinds of delicacies, chicken, meat, fish and shrimp and the food smelled really appetizing.
Once Shi Potian settled down on his eat, he looked around in all direction. He saw several recognizable faces in the hall, the Taoist from ShanQing temple, Fan Yifei from the Guangdong along with Lu Zhengping and Gao San Niangzi had also arrived. They all were actually frightened and didn’t say any words to Shi Potian but simply nodded and silently greeted him.
The two island hosts held their wine cup and said: "Please!" and started drinking wine.
The numerous heroes saw that the wine had a glossy look and was of pale purple color. It was really cold and had a very nice aroma but people thought in their heart: "Who knows what kind of a fierce poison is in this wine." Most of them raised their glasses and touched to their lips but no one actually drank the wine.
Only a small number of people thought: "The opposite party can harm me with a slight effort, what if this wine has some poison, even if one dies then at least die drinking this good wine." They raised their glass to drink up immediately; the servants were all on their heels and filled the cup as soon as it was empty.
After the two island hosts drank the wine for about three rounds, Long Daozhu raised his left hand to signal. Immediately a group of servants came in the hall with large bowls. Each bowl was full of some kind of gruel and they placed it in front of every guest separately.
The numerous guests thought: "So this is the famous "Eight meat gruel" …everyone knows in the martial art realm." They saw hot vapor coming out of gruel, small bubbles coming up from bottom, the color of the gruel was deep green color and it looked a bit strange however one was unable to say what actually is weird about it. The original meat gruel is made up of red jujube, husked lotus, and red bean and so on but at present in this gruel, the vegetable does not look like the vegetable but some kind of a grass and the gruel was extremely thickly. The various masters knew that the poison normally assumes the dark green color, this bowl of gruel was also deep green and also the smell of the gruel was really irritating to the nose and it felt like some kind of medicated gruel.
Gao San Niangzi smelled a whiff and was scared in her heart. She thought who knows was kind of a poisonous snakes, centipede, spider and scorpion are inside this boiling gruel and felt like vomiting. As the person carrying the bowl of gruel came near her table, she extended her sleeve to cover up her nose.
Long Daozhu said: "I am honored that each one of you has traveled such a distance to come to this banquet. Actually this bowl of meat gruel is very rare and you won’t find it anywhere else. It is actually prepared from "broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass". This grass is really rare and it blooms in to flower and separate from its grass once in every ten years. This is why we wait for ten years to invites the leaders from the martial art realm after every ten years. He counted on his fingers and said that this is the fourth such invitation. Please, please, do not be polite." As he was saying these words, he and Mu Daozhu took the bowl of gruel in their left hand and lifted the chopsticks from their right hand and invite everyone.
The people heard the name "broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass" and were shocked in their heart. Although after arriving in the island, everybody had not planned that they will depart alive but the name of this herb which was used to make this meat gruel was soul-stirring and unexpectedly this Long Daozhu promulgated it such blatantly, they cannot help but the complexion of everyone turned pale.
They only saw the two island hosts Mu Daozhu and Long Daozhu lifting their chopsticks and hinting everyone to start eating then lifted their bowl to eat.
The numerous guests thought: "In your two bowls of gruel, you might have put ginseng and bird’s nest or some tonic…who knows."
Suddenly a person stood on the eastern end and pointed at the two island hosts loudly: "Surnamed Long, surnamed Mu listen, I, Xie Wenbao arrived at the island of heroes and already assumed that I am dead but I have an indomitable spirit and I am an honest man. If you have to kill then you must hack but how can someone surnamed Mu wrinkle his frowns and wants me to eat this dirty poison, I won’t!"
Long Daozhu was surprised, he said with a smile: "If the hero is not inclined to eat the gruel then how dare do we force you to do so? Actually why are you losing your temper? Please sit."
Xie Wenbao shouted loudly: "I surnamed Wenbao is not afraid to die…one dies early or late what difference does it make, everyone dies in the end but you people are bent on insulting everyone of us. I won’t accept this disrespect!" As he was saying these words he took the bowl of hot gruel and threw it at the island hosts.
Suddenly an old man sitting two tables away from Xie Wenbao stood up and shouted: "Xie my worthy brother, don’t play rough!" He stroked his gown sleeves and sent out a strong breeze, the bowl of gruel was stopped in the mid-air. That bowl of gruel was no longer moving forward but kind of hung in the air for moment and then started falling downwards. Everyone thought that it was going to falls on that mosaic floor and gruel will be splashed everywhere however the servant pouring wine suddenly slanted his body vertically and bent his waist and stretched out his arm. He was just in time to lift-off the bowl about several inches from ground.
The numerous guests couldn’t restrain themselves and cheered him loudly: "well done!"
Just and the sound of applause died, everyone was deeply worried and they thought: "If the person who is waiting tables and is a lowly servant is so skillful then how can we even think of living this place alive?"
Various people were perturbed in their heart by this incident, some started thinking of their descendants and family; Some were thinking of their old enmity; Some thought that at least even if one person is dying, their sect and families are safe, on the other hand some people deeply regretted their decision to come to island of heroes and thought that perhaps it would have been better if they would have hidden in some remote mountain. Some people always thought that they have been really fortunate in life and will find some way to avoid this calamity once they are in the island of the heroes but after watching a servant so exceptionally skill, even they too lost the hope of overpowering the island host and escaping.
A middle-aged person with a demeanor of a scholar stood up and called out: "The servants of the island hosts are skillful; they can easily defeat the heroes in the central plains. If the two islands hosts want the martial arts world to rule then it will be as easy as pie. I don’t understand why have we all gathered here? When I came to this island then I already knew that I won’t return back from this island but I am having this doubt in my heart for such a long time and it will be great injustice if I die without knowing the truth. The two island hosts, please enlightening me and open this mental block, this question is bugging me down to death."
Actually everyone in that hall was having the same thoughts but no one spoke these words because they thought other will think of him as inferior but deep in their heart they were now anxious to hear the answer. They all looked at the two island hosts with great anticipation.
Long Daozhu said with a smile: "’West gate lives first’ does not need to be too modest."
As soon as the numerous guests listened these words, they all turned their head to look that that scholarly person as if by prior agreement and thought: "Is this the same person who shocked the martial art world about 20 years ago, "the west region scholar" or "west region acme of perfection"? Looking at him, he doesn’t look more than 40 years old but more than 20 years ago, he killed the seven tyrants of North Shanxi by his palm and incited the eight stockades of the Hubei region within three days. However he was already about 40 at that time but he still looked the same age so people were really confused if this is the same person or not but they were unaware that there was someone else in the martial art world with the same name and also with the same scholarly look."
They only heard Long Daozhu saying: "West region scholar", you had executed seven tyrants with your palm and the eight strongholds ......" (Everyone thought: so he is the same person) "......I and brother Mu have admired you for such a long time; we don’t dare to be impolite."
The west region scholar said: "Does not dare; that was way back in the past and was such a minor matter. I might have flaunted crazily in the central plains for a while but here it will be a similar to a novices trick in front of island hosts."
Long Daozhu said: "West gate lived first is too modest. Your Excellency asked just now that what are the desires of us two people, I will explain to you but first you have to start eating this gruel of ‘broken heart eclipse bone spoiled heart grass' while it is hot. Everybody please first sip the gruel and then I will tell in detail."
Shi Potian listened to these two people talking politely and using numerous idioms, he didn’t understood half of them but he was getting hungry and was suppressing it for some time. Once the gruel was served in front of him, he wanted to start eating but waited for others to do so. However once Long Daozhu said to start eating then he immediately took the gruel bowl and started eating. At first the smell of the gruel was really irritating him but once he put the gruel in his mouth, it wasn’t as bad and in fact he like it and immediately finished off the bowl upside down.
Some people thought: "This boy does not know the immensity of heaven and earth, this person flaunts his temporary boldness and looks like a stubborn person. He will be soon knocking the Gate of Death if he continues to do so."
Some thought: "Anyway we are going to die, at least this young hero is not afraid, and he is like a fresh breeze in this closed underground hall."
Bai Zizai cheered: "Wonderful! Husband of my granddaughter from snow mountain sect is not ordinary." He still thought that his sect was the best sect among all the various sects in this world. So he mentioned Shi Potian and his sect both in the same line.
When Bai Zizai left the Ling Xiao city after fighting with Grandma Shi, he was deeply frustrated. He believed these words his entire life: "the leader of the snow mountain sect "power and virtue gentleman" is easily the best swordsman in the world through the ages, his internal strength is the best, his skills in the concealed weapons is the best, he is a big hero and chivalrous person, a great master of profound learning and integrity".
When he saw the skill of the servant who was simply pouring wine, at first he too was amazed but then thought perhaps these people have deliberately planted a high martial art exponent in disguise of servant and it might not be necessarily true that the martial art of island of heroes is best in the world.
He saw Shi Potian does not caring about the poison in the gruel and said "Husband of my granddaughter from snow mountain sect" and was quite self-satisfied by him and the heroic spirit rushed in his heart too. He also took the gruel bowl immediately and started eating it and finished it in flash.
He thought: "All the people in this hall did not dare to eat this gruel, only I and this boy have the courage to eat it, what kind of a heroic people are these fellows?" But he immediately remembered: "I am the second person of who has eaten this gruel, even if I am a heroic person still I am actually the world second greatest. They should remove the characters "big hero" from my title. He cannot help but was again greatly depressed and thought: "Since after eating this poisonous gruel, anyway we are going to die so why not drink first and die? Now since I have become the "world’s second best", it’s actually is quite dull."
He was lost in his own thought and regrets and didn’t hear the words of Long Daozhu.
Long Daozhu said: "About forty years ago, I and brother Mu became friends, we wanted to collaborate in the martial art realm to punish the wicked and help the good people but unexpectedly we have to leave martial art realm. We actually discovered a map; in that map there were the details and location of a nameless desert island and an earthshaking martial art secret ......"
Xie Wenbao inserted with a sneer: "This obviously was island of heroes, how can it be a nameless desert island?"
The old man who has flicked his sleeve to keeps off the gruel bowl shouted: "Brother Xie, Please don’t break the thread of conversation of Long Daozhu."
Xie Wenbao said resentfully: "You are desperate to flatter; he will not necessarily forgive your life."
That old man got angry and took the bowl of meat gruel and ate it in one breath. Once he completed the bowl, he said: "Your and I have crossed each other for half a lifetime, do you still remember when you used to call Zheng Guangzhi elder brother?"
Xie Wenbao said with great regret: "Eldest brother, I have made a mistake; little brother will accompany you to nether world."
He knelt down immediately and kowtowed in front of him thrice and then took the bowl of meat gruel from the table and finished it off in one breath. Zheng Guangzhi came and hugged him and said: "Brother, you and I became sworn brothers in the past; we swore that we were not born on same month and same day in the same year but will die on same month and same day in the same year. This vow actually is really difficult to fulfill but today we get the opportunity, at least our vow was not in vain."
