Smiling Proud Wanderer Vol 04 Read online

  "Yes… Yes… Yes… Bao… Bao… Bao…" He kept on mumbling for some time but never actually uttered what his given name was.

  Suddenly, everyone could smell a stinky odour and saw that there was water flowing from underneath this fake Dongfang Bubai's pants. This fake Dongfang Bubai was so scared that he had actually urinated in his pants.

  "We can’t be delayed; finding Dongfang Bubai is our most important thing to do!" Ren Woxing decided. He then lifted Bao and bellowed, "You’ve all seen clearly now. Our sect is infested by the like of this guy who is pretending to be Dongfang Bubai. We must find out the truth. I am your true Chief, Ren Woxing. Do you recognise me?"

  All of the sect warriors were youths who were only in their twenties and had never seen his face before, so none of them recognised him. After Dongfang Bubai became the sect’s Chief, all of his trusted aides wanted to be in his good book so they never mentioned the past matter of Chief Ren. That was why these warriors had never even heard of Ren Woxing’s name. On the other hand, they thought that even though the Divine Sun Moon Sect had been in existence for hundreds of years, Dongfang Bubai had always been the Chief. They just looked at each other not daring to utter a word.

  Shangguan Yun said loudly, "Dongfang Bubai was probably killed by Yang Lianting and his cohorts. Chief Ren is our sect’s chief. From now on, everyone must be loyal to Chief Ren." After he said this, he knelt down in front of Ren Woxing and said, "Subordinate pays his respect to Chief Ren. Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu!"

  Those warriors knew that Shangguan Yun was a high-ranking officer in the sect. When they now saw him paying his respect to Ren Woxing -- after witnessing for themselves how Chief Dongfang was replaced by a fake, how their powerful and awe-inspiring Yang Lianting got his legs broken, thrown to the ground, and couldn’t fight back at all -- tens of those warriors immediately knelt towards Ren Woxing and said, "Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu!”

  The rest of the warriors immediately followed suit. Having said ‘Long live the Chief, unifies the Jianghu’ hundreds of times, they unwittingly used the same words to address Ren Woxing.

  Ren Woxing laughed loudly taking pride in himself. He then said, "You must strictly guard the entrances to Dark Wood Cliff and don't let anyone go up or down from the Cliff." The warriors acknowledged the order together.

  By then, Xiang Wentian had already ordered the servants in purple to release Tong Baixiong. Tong Baixiong was really worried about the safety of Dongfang Bubai so he grabbed Yang Lianting by his neck and shouted, "You… You… You must’ve killed my Brother Dongfang. You... You..." He was feeling very agitated, his voice was choking, and teardrops started to fall on his cheeks.

  Yang Lianting just closed his eyes and ignored him. Tong Baixiong gave him a whack on his ear and yelled, "What happened to my Brother Dongfang?"

  Xiang Wentian hastily said, "Lighten your hits!" But it was too late. Even though Tong Baixiong had only used around thirty percent of his power, Yang Lianting was already unconscious from the slapping. Tong Baixiong shook Yang Lianting's body. But Yang Lianting's eyes were all white and looked as if he had died.

  Ren Woxing said to the purple gown servants, "Who knows of Dongfang Bubai’s whereabouts? Quickly report then I’ll heap you with gifts." He asked three times, but nobody answered. Suddenly, Ren Woxing’s heart turned cold. While he was being imprisoned underneath the West Lake, besides practising his martial art, he was also imagining how to torture Dongfang Bubai once he had escaped from that prison. But today on top of Dark Wood Cliff, all he found was the fake one. It seemed as if Dongfang Bubai had died sometime ago. Otherwise, judging on Dongfang Bubai’s subtlety and martial art, how could this Yang Lianting manage to commit these evil acts and order someone to pretend to be Dongfang Bubai? What was the use of torturing Yang Lianting and this idiot Bao?

  He looked at the servants in purple gown scattered throughout the hall. Some of them looked completely terrified, some looked frightened and confused, and there were some who appeared cunning and deceitful. Ren Woxing was extremely disappointed and was feeling impatient. He shouted, “You chaps, you must know this was a fake Dongfang Bubai, and cooperated with Yang Lianting in deceiving the brothers in the sect. These are unpardonable sins that deserved deaths!"

  His body swayed as he rushed towards them. ‘Pa, Pa, Pa, Pa’. These four soft sounds were heard as four servants in purple gowns were killed without being able to utter a single word. The rest of the servants were startled and they started to scream in fear and ran for their lives. Ren Woxing laughed fiercely and bellowed, "Escaping! Escaping where?" He picked up the iron shackles on the ground which were originally used to shackle Tong Baixiong, and tossed them at a cluster of people. Blood and flesh flew all over the place as seven or eight people were killed. Ren Woxing laughed loudly and said, "I will not let anyone who followed Dongfang Bubai live!"

  Yingying saw her father was acting rather strangely, like he was mad, so she shouted at him, "Daddy!" She ran to him and pulled on his hand. Suddenly, one of the servants came out and knelt down. "Reporting to Chief. Dongfang Bubai... Dongfang Bubai didn't die!"

  Jubilant, Ren Woxing ran up to that servant, grabbed his shoulders and asked, “Dongfang Bubai didn't die?”

  "Yes! AH!" the servant fainted after screaming in pain. In his excitement, Ren Woxing had actually used too much strength and broke both of that servant’s shoulders. Ren Woxing shook the servant's body a few times but he didn't wake up.

  Ren Woxing then turned his head to the other servants and shouted, "Where is Dongfang Bubai? Quickly lead the way! If you’re delaying me, I’ll kill you all!" One servant knelt down and said, "Reporting to Chief. The location of Dongfang Bubai is a secret and only Yang Lianting knows how to open the secret pathway. If we wake this Yang traitor up, he will lead Chief to where Dongfang Bubai is."

  Ren Woxing shouted, "Quickly bring cold water!"

  These servants in purple gown were pretty clever. Five of them immediately flew out of the hall, but only three people came back carrying bowls of cold water, as the other two had run away. They poured all three bowls of cold water over Yang Lianting's head. He slowly woke up and opened his eyes. Xiang Wentian said, "I admire your braveness so I won’t torture you any more. Now, all the paths going up and down from Dark Wood Cliff have been blocked so there’s no way for Dongfang Bubai to escape unless he has a couple of wings to fly out. Quickly lead us to find him, why would a gentleman hide his face and only reveal his tail? Let’s quickly decide this matter, so everyone can be happy!"

  Yang Lianting smiled derisively. "Chief Dongfang is matchless in this world. It’s very good that you all want to go to your death. Alright, I’ll lead you to him."

  Xiang Wentian said to Shangguan Yun, "Brother Shangguan, let's carry Yang Lianting to see Dongfang Bubai." He lifted Yang Lianting and dumped him on top of the stretcher. Shangguan Yun answered, “Yes!” and lifted the stretcher together with Xiang Wentian. Yang Lianting instructed, "Go inside!" Xiang Wentian and Shangguan Yun carried him in front to lead the way while Ren Woxing, Linghu Chong, Yingying, and Tong Baixiong followed behind them.

  They went to the back of the Hall of Refined Kindness and passed through a long corridor before arriving at a flower garden. They then entered a small stone house west of the garden. Yang Lianting said, "Push the left wall."

  When Tong Baixiong pushed the wall, it actually turned around and revealed a secret doorway. Inside there was another metal door facing them. Yang Lianting pulled out a key and handed it over to Tong Baixiong. Tong Baixiong opened the door and discovered an underground tunnel beyond that door. They all headed underground. On both sides of the tunnel were oil lamps flickering dimly. Ren Woxing thought, "That bastard Dongfang Bubai locked me up under the West Lake. Who would've thought that he gets the same retribution and got himself locked up as well. This tunnel isn't any better than the one in Plum Manor on Mount Gu."

  But after they had made a few turns, suddenly there was an open
space in front of them and they could see the bright sky. Instantly, the fragrance of flowers assaulted their noses and they felt invigorated. As they came out of the tunnel, they discovered that they were in the middle of a small delicate flower garden. Red cheery blossoms, green bamboo, green pines, and green jade cypress were planted artfully in the garden. Two yuan-yang mandarin ducks were swimming leisurely through the small pond. There were also four white cranes standing besides the pool. Seeing such an unexpected lovely tableau, they all secretly admired the scenery. They went around a fake mountain and came into a large flower garden full of red and pink roses. The roses smelled wonderfully fragrant and were delicately beautiful.

  Yingying turned her head slightly to look at Linghu Chong. He had a smile in his face and looked very happy. She whispered, "Do you think this is a lovely place?"

  Linghu Chong smiled. "After we kick Dongfang Bubai out, let's stay here for a few months. You can teach me how to play the Qin and we would be very happy."

  Yingying asked, "Are you deceiving me?"

  "I'm only afraid that if I don't learn it well then Granny would blame me for that."

  Yingying sneered and broke into a smile. The two of them were enjoying the beautiful scenery, and lagged behind the group. They saw Xiang Wentian and Shangguan Yun enter a small elegant house ahead. Linghu Chong and Yingying quickly followed them and entered the house. As soon as they had entered, they could smell the strong fragrance of flowers. There was a painting of three beautiful ladies on the wall while the chairs inside had flowery embroidered cushions. Linghu Chong thought, "This is a lady's room. How could Dongfang Bubai be living in here? That's right. This must be his concubine's house. He's living in a gentle and soft village, that's why he doesn't care about the sect's matters."

  A voice came from the inner room, "Brother Lian, who did you bring in with you?" The pitch of that voice was sharp and high, but at the same time still sounded coarse and rough. Whether it was from a man or a woman, that chilling voice would cause the hair on anyone's skin to stand straight up. Yang Lianting said, "Its one of your old friends. He said he just couldn't NOT see you."

  The voice from the inner room spoke, "Why did you bring him in for? Only you alone are allowed to come in here. Aside from you, there is no one else that I want to see." The last two sentences were spoken quite flirtatiously, clearly sounding like the words that would come from a woman, yet the voice undoubtedly came from a man.

  Ren Woxing, Xiang Wentian, Yingying, Tong Baixiong, and Shangguan Yun were all well acquainted with Dongfang Bubai, this voice they heard was definitely his, but sounded more like someone who was purposely squeezing his throat to raise the pitch as if learning to sing, pretending to be charming and seductive. The whole scene just appeared as if it were a joke. The look on everyone's face was of shock and bewilderment.

  "I can't! If I didn't bring him in, he would've taken my life,” Yang Lianting replied. “How could I not see you once more before I die?"

  The person in the room said in a sharp voice, "Who would dare to insult you like that? Is it Ren Woxing? Tell him to come out!" Ren Woxing, hearing that Dongfang Bubai was able to deduce that it was him based on a single sentence, dared not underestimate his intelligence. He signalled for the rest of them to slowly enter the room. Shangguan Yun lifted one of the silk embroidered curtains, carrying in Yang Lianting with him, while the rest of the group followed in from behind.

  The inner room was layered with floral tapestries and brocade embroideries. A strong scent of perfume and powder filled the room. In the eastern corner on top of a make-up table a person was seated, clothed in exquisite pink robes. In his left hand was an embroidering apparatus and in his right hand was an embroidery needle. The person lifted his head and had an astonished look on his face. But the look of confusion on this person's face could never match the look on the faces of Ren Woxing and the others.

  With the exception of Linghu Chong, everyone recognized this person as the person who had usurped the position of Chief of the Sun Moon Sect, who for the past ten or more years held the distinction of being the unrivalled number one fighter in all the world, Dongfang Bubai. But now, he had shaved off all his facial hair, entirely covered his face in beauty powder, and was dressed in clothing that neither resembled a man or a woman. His eyes were eerie looking, and appeared way too glamorously exaggerated, and were just a pain to look at. What was this heaven-shaking earth-shattering figure of the martial arts world doing in a woman's quarters sewing!

  Ren Woxing who was originally filled with anger and rage, now couldn't help holding in his laughter. "Dongfang Bubai, have you fallen insane?"

  Dongfang Bubai in his sharp voice answered, "So it really is Chief Ren! You've finally come! Brother Lian, you ... you ... how are you? Is he the one who hurt you?" He walked over to Yang Lianting 's side and carried him over to a bed. Dongfang Bubai had an extremely caring and worried look on his face, and asked, "Does it hurt very badly? They’re only broken shin bones, not very serious. You need not worry, I'll immediately help you start reconnecting the bones." He slowly undressed Yang's shoes and socks, pulled him across the fragrant bed covers, and into his arms, exactly like a loving wife would do for her husband.

  Everyone present couldn't help but feel shocked and slightly disgusted at what they saw. They all wanted to laugh, but the show of affection they witnessed were just too strange, any laughter wouldn't even come out. Behind those elaborately decorative curtains, in that magnificent embroidery room, the air was filled with a quaint and unnatural aura.

  Dongfang Bubai pulled out a green silk handkerchief from his side and gently wiped off the sweat and dirt from Yang Lianting's forehead. Yang Lianting became slightly enraged and berated, "A grave enemy is right in front of us, why are you still wasting time with these useless pleasantries? Beat them away first and we'll still have time for intimacy later."

  Dongfang Bubai giggled. "Yes! Yes! Please don't get upset. Your legs must be in great pain. Oh it pains my heart to see you suffer."

  Ren Woxing, Linghu Chong and the others had never witnessed such a strange sight in their lives, they had never even heard of such a thing. Homosexuality or paedophilia was not out of the ordinary. But to see Dongfang Bubai, the exalted Chief of the Sun Moon Sect, actually dressed up like a woman, and living in a woman's quarters? He must have gone insane. When Yang Lianting spoke to him, his tone of voice was harsh and threatening. Even so, Dongfang Bubai responded quite gently and refined like an elegant lady. They all found this perplexing and figured something had to be amiss.

  Tong Baixiong couldn't help it anymore and took a step forward. "Brother Dongfang, you ... you ... what the hell are you doing?"

  Dongfang Bubai lifted his head as his expression sunk. "Were you one of the people who injured my Brother Lian as well?"

  "Why are you letting that nobody boss you around? He ordered some idiot to impersonate you and pretend to be you, issuing orders in your name, and foolishly messing around with everything. Did you even know about this?"

  "Of course I knew. Brother Lian always has my best interests in his heart, he knew that administrating the entire sect was too tiring for me, so he took over in my stead. There's nothing wrong with that."

  Tong Baixiong pointed to Yang Lianting. "This person wanted me dead. Did you know about that?"

  Dongfang Bubai leisurely shook his head. "I didn't know about this. But if Brother Lian wanted you dead, then you must've done something wrong. Why didn't you let him kill you?"

  Tong Baixiong looked startled. After he regained his composure, he started to laugh. In his laughter there was a certain hint of sadness. "So if he wanted to kill me, you'd just let him do so?"

  "Whatever Brother Lian wishes, I will oblige,” Dongfang Bubai replied. “He is the only one in this world who is truly good to me, and he is the only one in this world who I will be good to. Brother Tong, you and I have had quite a friendship, but you shouldn't have offended my Brother Lian."

  Tong Baixiong's
entire face flushed red. "And I had thought that you had completely lost your mind. You still know exactly what you're talking about. You still remember that we were the best of friends, friends who braved life and death together."

  "Of course,” Dongfang Bubai said. “If you offended me, I could care less. But you offended my Brother Lian, and that is unforgivable."

  "Well, I've already offended him, so what are you going to do? That bastard wants to take my life but I don't think he has the ability."

  Dongfang Bubai extended his hand and gently combed his fingers through Yang Lianting’s hair and asked gently, "Brother Lian, do you want to kill him?"

  "Hurry up already! Stop dawdling around, you're starting to get on my nerves."

  Dongfang Bubai softly said, "Yes!" He turned to face Tong Baixiong and said, "Brother Tong, today we are friends no longer. Please do not blame me for it."

  Before Tong Baixiong had entered this place, he had grabbed a blade from one of the dead servants outside. As soon as he stepped in, his blade was at ready. He knew that Dongfang Bubai's martial prowess was exceptional. Although Dongfang Bubai appeared quite mad and out of his mind, Tong Baixiong still dared not let his guard down. He brandished his blade and took a defensive position.

  Dongfang Bubai smiled coldly and said, "Oh, must this be so difficult? Brother Tong, during that time on Mount Taiheng, the Seven Tigers of Ludong had me surrounded. I hadn't yet finished my training then and was caught in an ambush by them. My right arm was severely injured, and I was certain that I was finished. If it weren't for you who came to my rescue, how could I have lived up to this day?"

  Tong Baixiong asked, "You really still remember those times from the distant past?"

  "How could I forget? And during the time when I took control of the Sun Moon Sect, Elder Luo of Sparrow Hall wouldn't submit to my rule, constantly nagging and complaining. It was you who dispatched Elder Luo with a single blow. It was from that day forth that not another person dared to speak up and question my authority. You definitely deserve much credit for that."