Smiling Proud Wanderer Vol 01 Read online

  Crystal teardrops began pouring down her face. She continued her story while sobbing, “I…I…I saw what happened and rushed to stop him, but his sword had already penetrated…penetrated Big Brother Linghu’s chest.” Everyone in the hall fell silent.

  Yu Canghai felt that all the looks directed toward him were full of disdain and anger. “Are you sure about your story?” he asked. “If, as you said, Luo Renjie had already killed Linghu Chong, how did Luo Renjie die from his sword?”

  “After Big Brother Linghu was stabbed,” Yilin said, “he squeezed out a smile and whispered to me, ‘Little apprentice sister, I…I have an important secret to tell you. The Fortune…Fortune Prestige Escort House’s Evil-Resisting…Evil-Resisting Sword Art Manuscript is at…at….’ His voice became lower and lower, and I could hardly hear him, only saw his lips moving….”

  Yu Canghai was shocked at the words “Fortune Prestige Escort House’s Evil-Resisting Sword Art Manuscript.” He anxiously began to ask, “At…?” He was going to say “at which place,” but then he realized it would be very bad to ask the question in front of so many people, so he swallowed his words right away, yet his heart thumped harder and harder, hoping the young, inexperienced Yilin would say it out loud. Otherwise, when Sister Dingyi asked for details later and learned all the important connections, she would never let him know the secret.

  “Luo Renjie seemed to be very concerned about that sword art manuscript,” Yilin said. “He walked closer and bent over to listen to what Big Brother Linghu was saying about the location of the sword art manuscript. Suddenly, Big Brother Linghu raised the sword he dropped on the floor, and pushed the sword into Luo Renjie’s lower abdomen. The villain fell on his back. His limbs twitched a couple of times, but he could no longer stand up. It turned out…turned out… Big Brother Linghu fooled him into coming closer, so he could kill him for revenge.”

  After having finished retelling the past events, she could no longer handle the stress. She swayed back and forth a little and then fainted. Dingyi extended her arm to support her while glaring at Yu Canghai angrily.

  All the listeners stayed silent and tried to imagine the epic fight in the Huiyan Wine House. Compared to masters like Priest Tian-Men, Liu Zhengfeng, Mr. Wen, He Sanqi and others, the skills of those like Linghu Chong or Luo Renjie were nothing special, but the entire event was so astounding and brutal. It was very rare for something like this to occur in the Martial World, especially when told by such a pure and pretty young nun, obviously there was no exaggeration.

  “Mr. Li, you were there. So did you see the whole thing?” Liu Zhengfeng asked the Qingcheng apprentice named Li.

  The Li-named apprentice did not answer, just looked at Yu Canghai. Seeing the expression on his face, all knew that the whole thing happened exactly as it was told. If Yilin had said a word that was not factual, he would have argued.

  Yu Canghai turned to stare at Lao Denuo with a livid face. “Nephew apprentice Lao,” he asked coldly, “What on earth did we, the Qingcheng Sword School, do that offended your respectful school so much, that your senior apprentice brother would provoke trouble over and over with the apprentices of my Qingcheng Sword School?”

  “I don’t know.” Lao Denuo shook his head. “It seems to be a personal conflict between senior brother Linghu and apprentice brother Luo of your respectful school. It has nothing to do with the relationship between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Huashan Sword School.”

  Yu Canghai sneered. “Has nothing to do, indeed! You really know how to clear things up….” He hadn’t even finished his words when suddenly, with a loud “crack,” the west window burst open and a man flew in. Most of the people in the hall were masters and reacted quickly by dodging to the side, ready to defend themselves. Before anyone had the chance to actually take a good look at the man who had flown in, there was a second loud “crack,” and another person flew in. The two men landed on the floor face down and just lay there still. Both were in long purple robes, the type of uniform worn by members of the Qingcheng Sword School. On the seat of their pants, each had the very clear imprint of a muddy foot. A husky old voice spoke loudly outside of the window tauntingly, “‘Bum Bum Back, Geese Landing in Sand!’ Ha-ha! Ha-ha!”

  Without any hesitation, Yu Canghai struck a palm stance in the direction of the voice, and jumped out the window to give chase. Pushing the window frame slightly using his left hand, he jumped onto the roof. Standing there, he looked in every direction, but all he could see was the dark night sky with a shower falling down like a hanging curtain. There was no sign of anyone. He quickly concluded that it was impossible for anyone to vanish in such a short time. Therefore, the intruder must be hiding close by. Knowing that the man must be a formidable opponent, he drew his long sword and quickly searched all around the House of Liu.

  Priest Tian-Men stayed in his seat concerned about his dignity, but Sister Dingyi, He Sanqi, Mr. Wen, Liu Zhengfeng, and Lao Denuo all jumped up onto the roof. They could see the short Taoist priest running about holding a sword. The flash of his sword took the appearance of a beam of white light and flew around the dozens of houses with magnificent speed. All inwardly praised the high level of Yu Canghai’s Qing-Gong skills.

  Yu Canghai dashed about rapidly; none of the corners, trees, or bushes escaped his searching eyes, but he found nothing out of place. Then, he jumped back into the hall. The two apprentices were still lying on the floor. In his mind, the clear footprints on their backsides turned into hundreds of laughing faces of people in the Martial World, mocking the Qingcheng Sword School for losing face. Yu Canghai turned one apprentice over and recognized him as apprentice Shen Renjun. He didn’t have to turn the other one over; the beard clearly showed that it was the one who always hung out with Shen Renjun – Ji Rentong. Yu Canghai struck the acupoints next to Shen Renjun’s ribs twice, and then asked, “Who did this to you?”

  Shen Renjun opened his mouth, but nothing came out of his mouth. Yu Canghai was startled. When he struck Shen Renjun, he pretended to be doing something very easy, since so many first-class masters were watching. However, he had actually used a type of Qingcheng high-level inner strength. Despite this, Shen Renjun’s acupoints remained sealed, which left him no other option but to gather all his inner strength and start passing it to Shen Renjun through the Ling-Tai Acupoint on Shen’s back.

  After quite a while, Shen Renjun was finally able to speak in a stuttering voice, “Mast…Master!” Yu Canghai did not answer and kept passing more energy through the acupoint. “I…I did not see who it was.” Shen Renjun croaked.

  “How were you tricked?” Yu Canghai asked.

  “Fellow apprentice Ji and I went outside to take a leak. I just felt numbness on my back, and then fell into that son of a turtle’s hands.” Shen Renjun said.

  Yu Canghai straightened his face. “He is a first-class master. Show some respect.”

  “Yes, Master.” Shen Renjun stammered.

  Yu Canghai simply could not figure out where the enemy could possibly have come from. He raised his head and saw the indifferent face of Priest Tian-Men. It seemed that he did not care about what had happened at all. Yu Canghai thought to himself, “The members of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance claim to be ‘same root different branches.’ Since Renjie killed Linghu Chong, it looks like even Tian-Men is blaming me for that.” Suddenly he realized that the hidden enemy was most likely still in the Great Hall, so he signaled Shen Renjun to follow him and then quickly walked into the Great Hall.

  People in the hall were still chatting and making wild conjectures as to who had killed the apprentice of the Taishan Sword School and the apprentice of the Qingcheng Sword School. When they saw Yu Canghai coming in, some recognized him as the Head Master of Qingcheng Sword School. For the ones who did not know him, even though all they saw was a short man, the way he walked and behaved clearly showed the dignity of a great master. So soon, they all stopped talking. Silence fell over the entire hall. Yu Canghai looked through the crowd clo
sely, person by person. Most of the people in the hall belonged to the junior generation in the Martial World. Although he did not know many of them, by each one’s apparel, he could determine which school they belonged to. He knew that no one from the junior generation of any school could be such a master with great inner strength. If this person were really in the hall, he must look somehow different from the others. He looked and looked, one after another, when suddenly, his sharp gaze picked out a man.

  This man had a very ugly face. The very muscles on his face seemed to have been twisted by some kind of evil magical force. Several pieces of plaster were spread across his face, and a big hump stood out from his back.

  Yu Canghai could not contain his surprise when he suddenly thought about the man’s identity. “Could it be him?” he asked himself. The ‘Hunchback of the North,’ Mu Gaofeng, always hung around the northern border, and seldom showed up in the central region. He had no connection with the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, so why would he show up in Liu Zhengfeng’s hand-washing ceremony? But if it were not him, Yu Canghai could think of no other ugly hunchbacks in the Martial World.

  The other people in the hall followed Yu Canghai’s gaze and saw the hunchback. Several older members of the crowd, who knew more about the Martial World, let out cries of surprise. Liu Zhengfeng rushed toward the hunchback and greeted him, “I didn’t realize that your honor had come, and did not serve you well, please pardon me.”

  In actuality, the hunchback was nobody famous. He was none other than the young master of the Fortune Prestige Escort House – Lin Pingzhi. Afraid of being recognized by the others, he had kept his head down the entire time and stayed in a corner of the Great Hall. If Yu Canghai had not searched very carefully, nobody would ever have noticed him. But now that everybody’s eyes were fixed on him, Lin Pingzhi felt very embarrassed. He stood up immediately, bowed back to Liu Zhengfeng and said, “Not really, not really!”

  Liu Zhengfeng knew that Mu Gaofeng was from the northern border region, but the man in front of him had a southern accent. He also seemed to be far too young. Despite his doubts, he knew that Mu Gaofeng always liked to come and go like a shadow; it wouldn’t be appropriate to judge his behavior using common standards. So he said very politely, “I am Liu Zhengfeng. May I have the honor to ask your respectful name?”

  Lin Pingzhi never thought that someone would ask him about his name. He mumbled a couple of words but did not answer.

  “You and Hero Mu…?” Liu Zhengfeng asked again.

  An idea suddenly came to Lin Pingzhi’s mind: “My last name is Lin. If I use only half of it, it’s the character Mu.”36 So he said quickly, “Mu is my family name.”

  “Mr. Mu’s coming to Hengshan has brought great honor to our Liu House. May I ask what is the relationship between you and ‘Hunchback of the North,’ Hero Mu?” Liu Zhengfeng inquired. He could tell that Lin Pingzhi was just a young lad, and those pieces of plaster on his face were used just to hide his true identity. He was definitely not the man who had been renowned for decades – ‘Hunchback of the North’ Mu Gaofeng.

  Lin Pingzhi had never heard of the name ‘Hunchback of the North’ Mu Gaofeng before, but by the tone and voice of Liu Zhengfeng, he could tell the man named Mu had quite a reputation. Also, Yu Canghai was still glaring at him with a fierce look on his face; if he revealed his true identity, Yu Canghai would probably kill him without batting an eyelid. In such a precarious situation, the only right thing to do was to make some innocuous statements and fob them off with some vague answers. So he said, “‘Hunchback of the North’ Hero Mu? He is…he is a senior of mine.” He thought if that man was called a hero, then of course the name “senior” would be appropriate.

  Without finding anyone else suspicious, Yu Canghai had presumed this was the one who had humiliated his apprentices Shen Renjun and Ji Rentong. Even if ‘Hunchback of the North’ Mu Gaofeng had come himself, he would only be cautious but not afraid. Now this one was only a child of Mu Gaofeng’s family, Yu Canghai really did not take him seriously. It was this man who had first provoked the Qingcheng Sword School. There was no way that he was going to let that go easily.

  “Qingcheng Sword School has never crossed paths with Mr. Mu of the north. I wonder how we have offended you?” he said coldly.

  Standing face to face in front of the short priest, Lin Pingzhi remembered how his home was broken up; how his family was ruined, and his parents were taken prisoners. He didn’t even know if they were still alive. And all this happened because of this short priest standing right in front of him. Although he knew the short priest’s Kung Fu skills were a hundred times better than his own, he almost couldn’t help drawing his weapon and lunging forward. But after all the days of hardship following his escape, he was no longer the same dandy of Fuzhou town. He took a deep breath and tried to control himself.

  “Qingcheng Sword School has committed unrighteous deeds and Hero Mu happened to catch them, so of course he interferes. He is very warm-hearted and always enjoys helping the good against the evil. Why would he care if you offended him personally or not?” he replied.

  Hearing these words, Liu Zhengfeng couldn’t help laughing inwardly. Although ‘Hunchback of the North’ Mu Gaofeng had high Kung Fu skills, his moral standing was not particularly good at all. He only used the words “Hero Mu” in a very casual way. Compared to Mu Gaofeng’s true character, the word “Hero” was far from a true description. This man curried favor with the powerful and never kept his promises. But he had excellent Kung Fu skills and was always alert and careful, so if one ever offended him, it would be impossible to guard against him. That was why even though people in the Martial World might be afraid of him, no one really had any respect for him. When Liu Zhengfeng heard Lin Pingzhi’s words, he truly believed that Lin was a member of Mu’s family and was afraid that Yu Canghai might hurt him.

  “Master Yu, Brother Mu,” he said with a smile, “both of you are respectful guests in my humble place. Please, for my sake, let’s drink a friendly shot of wine? Servants, wine!”

  Soon, servants brought out wine.

  Yu Canghai thought nothing of the young hunchback before him. But considering all the dirty and evil tricks of Mu Gaofeng he had heard before, he would rather not challenge him right away. After the wine was poured, he did not pick up the cup straightaway, instead, just waited to see what Lin Pingzhi would do.

  Lin Pingzhi wavered between anger and fear, but finally anger overwhelmed him. He thought to himself, “Probably Mom and Dad have already died under the short priest’s murderous hands. I’d rather die than drink with him.” He glared at Yu Canghai with hatred-filled eyes and did not pick up his wine cup either. He wanted to spit out some curses, but being afraid of Yu Canghai, he remained silent.

  Seeing all the hostility shown by this hunchback, Yu Canghai could not hold his temper any longer. He suddenly grabbed Lin Pingzhi by his wrist. “Alright, alright, alright! Out of respect of Master Liu, no one will cause any trouble in the Liu House. Brother Mu, let us get to know each other,” he said.

  Lin Pingzhi pulled his arm hard, but could not escape Yu Canghai’s grip. Right after Yu spilled out his last word, a great pain shot through his wrist. He could hear his bone cracking and it seemed as though his wrist was going to be completely crushed.

  Yu Canghai halted the pressure and waited for Lin Pingzhi to beg for mercy, but Lin Pingzhi hated him so much that he did not even let out a groan in spite of the wrenching pain from his wrist.

  Standing by the side, Liu Zhengfeng could see big drops of sweat trickling down Lin Pingzhi’s forehead, but his face remained defiant and did not show any sign of capitulation. He admired the toughness of this young man, so he called out, “Master Yu!” and was just about to separate the two, when suddenly a high-pitched voice said, “Master Yu, why are you so eager to bully Mu Gaofeng’s grandson?”

  Everyone turned around to look, and saw a fat hunchback standing at the hall’s entrance. He had white scars crisscrossing h
is face, with black spots in between, and an enormous hump on his back. He looked horribly ugly and queer. Most of the people in the hall had never seen the real face of Mu Gaofeng; now hearing this man claim to be Mu Gaofeng and seeing his bizarre appearance, all were astonished.

  The hunchback had a fat body, but that did not prevent him from moving at amazing speed. People only saw a blurry shadow, and the hunchback was already standing next to Lin Pingzhi. He patted on Lin Pingzhi’s shoulder. “Good lad, good lad! Bragging about your grandpa by saying things like helping the good guys against the evil and so on sounded wonderful! I really enjoyed it!” After these words, he patted Lin Pingzhi’s shoulder again.

  When he patted Lin’s shoulder the first time, Lin Pingzhi felt a big shock going through his entire body. Yu Canghai also felt a stream of heat in his arm, and he almost had to let go of Lin Pingzhi’s hand. But he immediately added more strength to his grip and held the wrist solidly.

  Since the first pat did not get Lin Pingzhi out of Yu Canghai’s hold, Mu Gaofeng gathered his strength while talking to Lin, and when he patted on Lin’s shoulder the second time, he used more than eighty percent of his strength. Lin Pingzhi felt that for a just second, he had lost his vision, and something sweet welled up from his throat, then blood filled his mouth. He tried his best to not spill any blood and swallowed it all back down.

  Yu Canghai felt burning heat under his palm; he could not hold Lin’s wrist any longer and had to let go of it, taking a step back. “This hunchback really lives up to his reputation of cruel and evil,” he thought to himself. “Just to break my hold, he would inflict internal damage to his own grandson.”

  Lin Pingzhi gathered his strength and managed to squeeze out a laugh. “Master Yu,” he said to Yu Canghai, “your Qingcheng School’s skills are truly feeble. Compared to this ‘Hunchback of the North’ Hero Mu, you are a laggard. I suggest you submit yourself under Hero Mu and ask him to teach you a few moves, then…then…you might…improve a little….” Due to the internal injuries, he had to try hard to get these words out, feeling as though all his internal organs had been turned upside down. He finally finished his sentence, but his body had started shaking so badly that he almost fell.