DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 2 of 5 (Shrouding Screen In Suzhou) by Jin Yong

Giving Pointers To Gathered Heroes At The Water Pavilion Part 2

Zhu Baokun, upon hearing her say that it was very normal for people of the wulin to have battle scars or wounds, and that a man should be judged first and foremost by his character and his accomplishments, felt very happy. All his life, he had been unhappy about his pockmarked face. He had never heard anyone address the issue so sincerely and reasonably. Now, hearing her say, "Won't do, that won't work," he asked, "Miss, what do you mean?" He thought to himself, "Is she saying that this needle technique of mine, the 'Lord of Heaven Replenishes the Heart', won't do, and won't work? She doesn't know that there are twelve steel needles hidden within my awl. If I didn't stop and instead repeatedly struck it with my mace, I would have taken that old fellow's life a long time ago. Only, I cannot reveal my secret in front of Sima Lin."

Only to hear Wang Yuyan said, "This 'Lord of Heaven Replenishes the Heart' needle technique of yours truly is a overbearing hidden weapon technique..." Zhu Baokun's body trembled, and he let out a soft cry. Sima Lin and two other experts of Qingcheng sect also let out a simultaneous shout of, "What?!" The expression on Zhu Baokun's face changed, and he said, "Miss, you are wrong. This was not the 'Lord of Heaven Replenishes the Heart' needle technique. It is our Qingcheng sect's hidden weaponry technique, the fourth strike within the 'Qing' character, named the 'Green Hornet' nail technique." Wang Yuyan smiled. "It did appear as though you used the 'Green Hornet' strike. When you executed the 'Lord of Heaven Replenishes the Heart' needle technique, the tools and techniques you used are the same as that of the 'Green Hornet' nail technique. But the essential nature of hidden weaponry lies neither in the tools nor in the technique, but in the hidden weapon's force and power. Everyone uses steel needles, but the force which Shaolin disciples release is unique to Shaolin, and the force which the Kunlun sect releases is unique to Kunlun. This cannot be faked. Yours is..."

Suddenly, a murderous look filled Zhu Baokun's eyes. He suddenly raised the steel awl to his chest. All he needed to do was to strike the awl with his mace, and the steel needles would instantly shoot towards Wang Yuyan...

Half the people watching let out cries of alarm. Earlier, when he attacked Yao Bodang, his movements were very fast and the power released was very strong. Very few hidden weapon techniques could compare to it. Obviously, there was an extremely powerful release mechanism hidden within the awl, as it was definitely impossible for any human force to create such an effect. Moreover, the tip of the awl was curved and split, making it difficult for others to believe that steel needles could shoot out from it. No one knew that the hollow cavity within the awl was straight. Fortunately, Yao Bodang was quick of eye and fleet of hand and thus managed to avoid disaster. If he released the hidden weapons towards Wang Yuyan, how could a beautiful, delicate woman such as her possibly avoid or dodge it? But seeing how beautiful and gentle she appeared, Zhu Baokun couldn't bear to kill her. In addition, he was still grateful for how she had argued on his behalf earlier. He shouted, "Miss, don't talk too much and bring disaster upon yourself!"

Just at this moment, a person rushed forward and placed himself in front of Wang Yuyan. It was Duan Yu.

Wang Yuyan smiled. "Young gentleman Duan, many thanks! Mr. Zhu, many thanks to you as well for not killing me. But even if you kill me, there's no point. The Qingcheng sect and the Penglai sect have been enemies for generations. Your scheme was already tried over eighty years ago, by your venerable sect's seventh sect leader, Haifeng Zi. I'm afraid that his intelligence and martial arts is not one whit inferior to your own."

Upon hearing these words, the gaze of every member present of the Qingcheng sect turned towards Zhu Baokun. They mercilessly glared at him, all of them thinking to themselves, "Can it be that he is a member of our mortal enemy, the Penglai sect, who is in our sect undercover? How is it that he speaks with the Sichuanese accent, and doesn't have the slightest trace of a Shandong accent?"

The eastern peninsula of the Shandong province was lorded over by the Penglai sect. Although they were located in the east, and Sichuan's Qingcheng sect was located in the west, hundreds of years ago a bitter enmity was laid down by experts of their respective sects. From that time forth, each would make retaliatory attacks upon the other, committing many cruel and vicious revenge killings. Both sects possessed consummate martial arts techniques that could counter and restrain the other. In fact, the enmity laid down centuries ago was created by disagreements in a discussion on martial arts. After over ten violent battles and killings, in the end the Penglai sect was unable to defeat the Qingcheng sect, but the Qingcheng sect was also unable to overcome the Penglai sect. Every time the two came to battle, masters and experts from both sides would suffer wounds and often perish together, ending the battle in common ruin.

The Haifeng Zi which Wang Yuyan spoke of was an outstanding talent within the Penglai sect. He carefully examined the strengths and weaknesses of the martial arts of both schools, knowing that although it would not be too hard for him to surpass the Qingcheng sect based upon his own abilities, in the future, after he died and the Qingcheng sect produced a wise and talented student of its own, the Qingcheng would once more have surpassed his own sect. In order to finish the job once and for all, he sent his most talented disciple to sneak into the Qingcheng sect and steal their martial arts. In this way, he would 'know himself and know his enemy, proving victorious in every battle'. But his disciple had not fully mastered his martial arts and was discovered and executed by disciples of the Qingcheng sect. After this, the enmity between the two groups became only deeper as both sides began to guard against the other side stealing their secrets.

Within these past few decades, the Qingcheng sect set down a rule where they would not accept northerners as students. No students who spoke with any northern accents were accepted. Forget about having a Shandong accent, even if the applicant had the slightest Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, or Shaanxi accent. Later on, the rules became even more rigid, and they began to only accept disciples from Sichuan alone.

The 'Green Hornet' nail technique was a hidden weapon technique unique to the Qingcheng sect, whereas the 'Lord of Heaven Replenishes the Heart' needle technique belonged to the Penglai sect. Zhu Baokun clearly used the 'Green Hornet' nail technique, but Wang Yuyan continued to insist that he used the 'Lord of Heaven Replenishes the Heart' needle technique. This caused everyone in the Qingcheng sect to be filled with shock and dread. It must be known that the Penglai sect had a rule which was similar to that of the Qingcheng sect; they would only accept disciples from Shandong. Moreover, the people from the eastern part of Shandong were considered better. People from western Shandong or southern Shandong would find it extremely difficult to be allowed into the Penglai sect. It wouldn't be impossible for a person to put on a disguise and not reveal himself, but it would be extremely difficult for a person to change his manner of speaking so completely that in a thousand words, he wouldn't say a single word with a slightly strange accent. Zhu Baokun came from the Zhu family of the Guan county of Sichuan, a famous, aristocratic family of western Sichuan. How could he be a disciple of the Penglai sect? Everyone present would never have imagined it in their wildest dreams. Earlier, when Sima Lin wanted Wang Yuyan to guess his origins, all he wanted to do was stump this girl with a tough riddle. He did not suspect Zhu Baokun at all. How could he have imagined that he would receive such a soul-shaking response?

The person who was most startled of all was naturally Zhu Baokun himself. As it was, his original teacher was a Daoist priest named Dulingzi. In youth, Dulingzi had been greatly harmed by the Qingcheng sect, and incessantly schemed to revenge himself upon the Qingcheng sect. He snuck around all of Sichuan, trying to find ways by which he could cause them harm. One year, he met the young Zhu Baokun at the Guan county. At this point, Zhu Baokun was still but a child, but showed an extremely good bone structure and had a very good foundation for learning martial arts. Thus, Dulingzi came up with a plot. He ordered people to disguise themselves as Jiangnan pirates and had them sneak into the Zhu family, tie up the family members, and then, after looting the place, prepare to rape the two daughters of the Zhu family and execute the rest. Dulingzi himself was outside the entire time. He waited until the critical moment, then stepped forth bravely, chased away all the fake bandits, retrieved all of their belongings, and preserved the chastity of the two daughters of the Zhu family. The master of the Zhu family was naturally filled with boundless gratitude towards Dulingzi.

Dulingzi deliberately provoked him, saying, "If one does not possess first-class martial arts, no matter how rich you are, you can still be bullied by robbers and bandits. This group of bandits possessed some decent abilities. They've been beaten off today, but it is likely that they will come back for another try some other day." The Zhu family was an extremely powerful and well-known aristocratic family in the area. Before the master's very eyes, the guards and martial arts instructors he had invited were knocked down with three punches and two kicks. Now, hearing that the bandits would come back again soon, he was so frightened that his soul almost left him, and he begged Dulingzi to stay. Dulingzi insincerely refused for a while, then 'reluctantly' agreed to stay. After a short period of time had passed, he managed to convince Zhu Baokun to kowtow to him as his disciple.

Aside from his single-minded enmity towards the Qingcheng sect, Dulingzi himself was not really a bad person, and possessed extremely capable martial arts. He exhorted the Zhu family to carefully guard the secret of his presence, and secretly taught Zhu Baokun martial arts. After ten years or so, Zhu Baokun became one of the most outstanding individuals within the Penglai sect. This Dulingzi fellow really was patient. After settling down in the Zhu family household, he immediately disguised himself as a mute person. From beginning to end, he did not say a single word to a single person. When teaching Zhu Baokun martial arts, he would only demonstrate the techniques using his hands and feet, or manually write down the instructions for Zhu Baokun to read. He wouldn't say a single word or reveal his Shandong accent. Thus, although Zhu Baokun had associated with him for over ten years, he had never heard a single word spoken with the Shandong accent.

After Zhu Baokun fully completed his martial arts training, Dulingzi wrote down the entire ins and outs of the situation and told his student to act as he saw fit. Although, he naturally left out the part where he had people dress up as robbers to attack the Zhu family. In Zhu Baokun's heart, not only had his master saved his entire family, over the past ten years, his master had treated him with great benevolence and kindness, passing down to him all of the Penglai sect's martial arts techniques. He had long since felt boundless gratitude towards his master, and once he understood what his master wanted, he didn't hesitate in the slightest. He immediately headed towards Mt. Qingcheng, putting himself under the 'tutelage' of the Qingcheng sect's then-leader, Sima Wei. Sima Wei was Sima Lin's father.

At this point in time, Zhu Baokun was no longer a child, and moreover declared himself as having learned some low level martial arts from the guards which his family had hired. At first, Sima Wei was unwilling to accept him. But the Zhu family was a very rich family in western Sichuan, possessing both wealth and power. Although the Qingcheng sect belonged to the martial world, in the end, they were still located in Sichuan. They were unwilling to become estranged from the powerful and wealthy local noble clans. In addition, accepting a member of the Zhu family as a disciple would only enhance their sect's prestige. Thus, Sima Wei agreed in the end. While teaching him their skills, they found that Zhu Baokun already possessed quite impressive martial arts. But whenever they tried to question him, Zhu Baokun, in accordance with what his master Dulingzi had taught him to do, would make up something and throw them off. Sima Wei, wanting to give his father some face, did not pursue the matter too much. He thought to himself that for a scion of a rich family to reach such a level of martial arts was already very difficult.

After entering the Qingcheng sect, Zhu Baokun focused on a specific number of martial arts techniques as instructed by Dulingzi. On New Year's Day and during other festivals, he gave very lavish gifts to his master and his fellow apprentices. Whenever his master needed anything done, he wouldn't wait for any actual request to be made before perfectly fulfilling his master's wants. After all, his family had plenty of money, which made these things easy. Sima Wei always felt rather awkward about this, and thus poured his energy in teaching Zhu Baokun martial arts, holding nothing back and keeping nothing hidden. Thus, within seven or eight years, Zhu Baokun had learned the ultimate skills of the Qingcheng sect.