THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Healing Part 3

Yu Canghai turned back and saw a man standing by the window. It was none other than Linghu Chong. Yu Canghai was infuriated, but the words "a senior bullies a junior; how shameless" were right on target. The two young men's Kung Fu skills were no match for him; to kill them would be as easy as stepping on a puny ant. But he would never be able to get rid of the remark "a senior bullies a junior." And if the remark of "a senior bullies a junior" were true, of course "shameless" would be natural conclusion. But if he just simply let these two off, he wouldn't be able to vent his anger. He sneered and said to Linghu Chong, "I'll have your Master pay for your insolence later." Then he turned to Lin Pingzhi.

"Which school are you from?" he asked.

"You murderous monster, you ruined my whole family, and you are still asking me?" Lin Pingzhi yelled furiously.

Yu Canghai was confused. "Have I met you before? How did I ruin your family? What are you talking about?" he thought to himself. With so many people around watching, he did not want to ask for more details, so he turned to Hong Renxiong. "Renxiong, waste him first, then seize Linghu Chong."

If a Qingcheng apprentice did it, it wouldn't be "a senior bullies a junior." Hong Renxiong answered, "Yes, Master!" He drew his sword and jumped forth. Lin Pingzhi went for his own sword, but before he could unsheathe it, Hong Renxiong's long cold sword was already pointed at his chest.

Lin Pingzhi yelled, "Yu Canghai, I, Lin Pingzhi, will...."

Astounded, Yu Canghai hurriedly struck out with his left palm. The energy of the strike sent Hong Renxiong's thrust aside and the sword barely missed Lin Pingzhi's right arm.

"What did you say?" Yu Canghai asked.

"Even if I, Lin Pingzhi, have to become a disembodied ghost, I'll come back and kill you," Lin Pingzhi exclaimed.

"Are you...are you Lin Pingzhi from the Fortune Prestige Escort House?" Yu Canghai asked in shock.

Lin Pingzhi thought, "Since I can't hide my identity any more, I'd rather have a quick death." So he pulled the plasters off his face and said loudly, "That's right! I am Lin Pingzhi from Fuzhou Fortune Prestige Escort House. Your son harassed an innocent girl and I killed him. You ruined my whole family. Where...where are you keeping my father and my mother?"

The news of Qingcheng's triumph over the Fortune Prestige Escort House had spread all over the Martial World. Most people didn't know that Evergreen had lost in a sword fight with Lin Yuantu, so rumor said that it was really because the Qingcheng Sword School wanted to seize the Lin family's manuscript of the Evil-Resisting Sword Art. And because Linghu Chong had heard the rumor, he used it to lure Luo Renjie into coming closer and then killed him. Mu Gaofeng had also heard the rumor. After the fake hunchback claimed to be "Lin Pingzhi from the Fortune Prestige Escort House," seeing how Yu Canghai knocked aside Hong Renxiong's sword in such a hurry and how he acted so nervously, Mu Gaofeng had no doubt that Yu Canghai really wanted to track down the Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript with help from this young man. When Yu Canghai stretched his arm out and grabbed onto Lin Pingzhi's right wrist, pulling his arm back to drag Lin over, Mu Gaofeng shouted, "Hold it!" He jumped forth rapidly and grabbed onto Lin Pingzhi's left wrist and started pulling as well.

Lin Pingzhi could feel two great sources of power pulling his arms in opposite directions; all his joints started popping and he almost passed out from the severe pain. Yu Canghai knew very well that Lin Pingzhi would die instantly if he pulled any harder, so he thrust his long sword at Mu Gaofeng as he yelled out loudly, "Brother Mu, let it go!" Mu Gaofeng waved his right arm and blocked the sword with a shinning crescent knife. A loud ring echoed. Wasting no time, Yu Canghai launched his sword attacks, and within seconds, he had sent nine thrusts at Mu Gaofeng.