(Old Gratitudes, Past Grievances – Friends in Morning, Becomes Foes at Midday)

(Part 1, translated by tigergee2329)

Everyone turned their heads and looked behind the apricot trees. A square faced, big eared monk, dignified in appearance wearing an ash colored robe, stepped out. Elder Xu cried, “Reverend Zhiguang from Mt. Tiantai has arrived! 30 years since we last met, reverend still look as healthy as ever.”

Reverend Zhiguang’s reputation was not well known in recent years so many of the latter generations of the Beggar Clan do not know his name. But Qiao Feng and the six clan elders all stood up and paid him respect, having known of his reputation from before. In the past, the Reverend had sailed the seas to deserted lands and islands looking for medicinal herbs to treat malaria and other illnesses for the common people in the Zhejiang, Fujian Guangdong and Guangxi area. Because of this, the Reverend had caught an illness himself and lost his martial arts, thus the gratitudes of the common people for his deeds are not small. Many people came up to salute him.

Reverend Zhiguang turned to Zhao Qiansun, smiled and said, “Wugong that is inferior to the opponent when attacked, wanting to retaliate is already hard. Wugong that is superior to the opponent when attacked, and choose not retaliate is even harder.” Zhao Qiansun lowered his head as if pondering what was said.

Elder Xu said, “Reverend Zhiguang’s brilliant wisdom and benevolent grace are so widespread that no one dares to disrespect. In the past ten years Reverend had not involved yourself with any business in Jianghu, but today you grace us with your presence and bringing the Beggar Clan great honor. I am deeply grateful.”

Reverend Zhiguang replied, “Elder Xu of the Beggar Clan and Iron Faced Judge Shan of Mt. Taishan both asked me to come, so how can I refuse? The distance between Mt. Tiantai and Wuxi is not great, moreover this matter deals with the peace and prosperity of the common people thus I came when summoned.”

Qiao Feng thought to himself, “So it turns out he was asked here by Elder Xu and Shan Zheng. Reverend Zhiguang has a reputation of high prestige and a noble character. There’s no way he would be involved with the plot to harm me. Maybe with him here is a good thing.”

Zhao Qiansun suddenly spoke up, “The battle at Quarry Stone Valley outside of Yanmen Guan Pass, Reverend Zhiguang also participated in it. You can speak about it first.”

Reverend Zhiguang hearing the mentioned of Quarry Stone Valley caused his facial complexion to became distorted, showing an uncomfortable restlessness and a hint of fear, like a person who saw a horrible sight and can’t bear to look. His face then switched to a melancholic look full of pity, let out a long sigh, and said, “The sin is really heavy, to speak of this matter brings up feelings of great shame. Everyone, the battle at Quarry Stone Valley took place 30 years ago, so why today bring up this matter?”

Elder Xu replied, “Only because our clan is facing a impending crisis involving the matter in this letter.” After speaking he brought out the letter and handed it over.

Reverend Zhiguang read the letter from beginning to end, shook his head and said, “Grievances of the past should not be reopened, why bring up this old matter? According to my opinion, this letter should be destroyed so it will bring this matter to an end. That is the best solution.”

Elder Xu retorted, “Vice Chief Ma of our clan died a tragic death. If this matter is not investigated carefully then this injustice suffered by Vice Chief Ma will never be washed away and it will lead to a disintegration of our clan.”

Reverend Zhiguang could only nod his in in agreement, “What you said is true.” The reverend looked up at late afternoon sky showing the new moon shining a thin ray of light onto the apricot trees for a long time, then turned to Zhao Qiansun and said, “Okay, the mistake that I committed many years back, I won’t conceal it anymore. I will be straightforward about what happened back then.”

Zhao Qiansun shook his head, “A mistake is a mistake. Why continue to deceive ourselves and others.”

The Reverend turned to the people gathered and spoke, “30 years ago, heroes of realm of rivers and lakes received news that a group of Khitan warriors planned to launch a sneak attack on the Shaolin Temple to steal martial art manuals developed over the past hundreds of years…”

Everyone gasped softly thinking to themselves, “The ambitions of these Khitan warriors are not small.” The unique martial art secrets of Shaolin Temple are the treasures of Great Song. Liao and Great Song had been at war with each other for many years, if these Khitan succeeded in stealing the martial art secrets of Shaolin and train their military in them, the armies of Great Song will not be able to repel their invasions.

Reverend Zhiguang continued, “This matter was a matter of great crisis. If the Khitans succeeded then Great Song would be facing a calamity with the threat of losing the country, the entire family of the Emperor will be put to the sword. The matter was urgent so our group of heroes did not have time to investigate this matter carefully. We heard that the group of Khitans will travel through Yanmen Guan Pass so beside from sending message to Shaolin to be on full alert, the group all immediately headed out to Yanmen Guan Pass to meet the enemy. If we couldn’t annihilate that group then at least we can foil their plans.”

Hearing of the impending battle with the Khitans, everyone’s blood started to boiled. Great Song over the years have been humiliated by the armies of Liao, having lost many battles, land was invaded, and the common people suffered greatly.

Reverend Zhiguang slowly turned his head, stared at Qiao Feng and asked, “Qiao Bangzhu, if Bangzhu had known of this news then what would you have done?”

Qiao Feng dignifiedly replied, “Reverend Zhiguang! My wisdom is limited, my abilities too lacking for people to praise, even brothers in the clan suspect of them that to even speak of it brings shame. But even though I am incompetent, I still am a man, and regarding these matters of principal one know what is right, what is wrong. Our Great Song has constantly been terrorized by armies of Liao, this dishonor upon our country, who here has never thought of cleansing? If I had heard of news such as those, I will immediately lead brothers in our clan to travel day and night to help stop them.”

Those words of his were very heroic and proud, everyone who heard was touched inside and thought to themselves, “Now that is how a true man should act.”

Reverend Zhiguang nodded and said, “Since Qiao Bangzhu said that, when I headed out to Yanmen Guan Pass to ambush the Khitans, there is nothing wrong with that right?”

Qiao Feng angrily thought to himself, “Who does this old man think he is? Saying that, isn’t it just like looking down on me?” However he betrayed no emotions and just calmly said, “The heroic spirit of all seniors here are fierce, I greatly admire them. I regret that I was not born 30 years earlier so that I could follow the heroes to fight the Khitans.”

Reverend Zhiguang looked at him carefully once more, his facial expressions were strange, and slowly said, “At that time we split up into small groups heading to Yanmen Guan Pass. I and this brother here…” he pointed to Zhao Qiansun and continued, “were in the first group. Our group consisted of 21 people. Brother Leader was younger than I by a few years, however his martial arts were outstanding, and many people revered his status in the martial arts world, thus we all nominated him to be our Leader. Everyone listened to him and carried out his orders. In our group there were Wang Bangzhu of the Beggar Clan, Ten Thousand Wins Saber the hero Wang Laoying, the Great Sword God Priest Yun of Mt. Huashan, they were all first class martial art masters. At that time I have yet to become a monk, and to be grouped together with such heroes I felt very unworthy. Only that my desire to serve my country to kill enemies did not allow for me to be polite and stand in the rear of that group. When it comes to killing enemies and protecting the country, every little strength that can be contributed should be contributed. The martial arts of these brothers were much greater than my own, as for nowadays, as you may know there is no need to compare anymore.”

Zhao Qiansun added, “That’s correct! At that time my martial arts were much greater than yours. As much as this..” As he said that he spread both his arms out wide to show the difference. But seeing that the distance was still not enough, he tried spreading out his finger tips to add a few inches.

Reverend Zhiguang just continued with his story, “Our group reached Yanmen Guan Pass and waited until near dusk, then went out beyond the Great Wall 10 more miles. We were on guard and very careful the whole time. Suddenly in the northwest direction we heard sounds of horses running, listening to the sound there were at least 10 riders. Brother Leader raised his right hand up and all of us halted. Everyone in the group were both excited and worried, no one dared to say a word. Excited because the news were not false, and the group arrived in time to stop the enemies. However also worried because everyone knows that these Khitans must be very fierce and capable to even dare attack Shaolin, who is the Mount Tai of martial art studies. If they were friendly then they wouldn’t have came, but since they came they couldn’t be friendly at all. These warriors must have been chosen very carefully, 1 chosen out of 10,000 so they must not be ordinary. Great Song had fought many battles with the Khitans, defeats were many but victories few, the outcome of the battle would be hard to imagine.”

“Brother Leader waved his hands and all 21 of us spread out around the mountain road and hid among the boulders. The left side of the mountain was a deep valley where the bottom could not even be seen.”

“The sound of hoofbeats start getting nearer and nearer, there was a sound of 7-8 people together singing a song native to the the people of Liao. The singing was gracefully long, both grand and herioc, but none of us could understand its meaning. I tightened the grip on my saber, my palms were so drenched in cold sweat that I had to dry them on my pants but it soon became wet again. Brother Leader was bending down to the side of me. Knowing that I was nervous, he patted my shoulder, looked at me, and gave a smile. He made a chopping motion with his hand as if to say we will kill all of the Khitan soldiers today. I smiled back at him. Inside I felt much calmer than before.”

“When the person in the lead of the Khitan group were about 50 meters away from us, I peeked out from behind of a boulder. The Khitan warriors were all wearing fur, some holding spears, some with short sabers, others with bows and arrows, and a few have large hawks perched on their shoulders. The whole group was singing as they walked, unbeknown of the ambush up ahead. In a brief second I had took in the appearances of the Khitans in front, they had short hair and thick beards, all looked fierce. As they got closer, my heart was beating so furiously that it felt like it was closed to jumping out of my mouth and out my body…”

The people hearing Reverend Zhiguang telling the story, though all knew this story took place 30 years ago, they couldn’t help but felt suspenseful. Reverend Zhiguang turned again to Qiao Feng and said, “Qiao Bangzhu, the success or failure of this mission will influence the safety of Great Song along with the lives of millions of people. And we still do not have a grasp on whether we will be successful. The only advantage we had was that the enemies were in the light, while we in the dark. According to Bangzhu, what should we have done?”

Qiao Feng replied, “There is an old saying ‘All’s fair in war.” This matter is involving two countries at war, there’s no way we can follow the heroic moral ethics code of Jianghu. The distant dogs had always slaughtered the people of Great Song, have they ever held back? In my opinion we must use concealed projectiles coated with deadly poison.”

Reverend Zhiguang clapped his hand against his thigh and said, “Good! The suggestion of Qiao Bangzhu is exactly like the thinking of our group. Brother Leader seeing the Khitans had came close enough, cried out a sound, and everyone let loose their concealed weapons and projectiles. Flying out there was an abundance of steel darts, steel arrows, flying daggers, iron awls… each and everyone were all coated with deadly poison. The Liao dogs screamed out in confusion, then fell over and screamed no more…”

In the group of beggars listening, some clapped their hands and cheered.

Reverend Zhiguang continued, “At that point I had counted clearly. The group of Khitans warriors had 19 people. Our concealed weapons had slain 12, leaving 7 still standing. Our group all to a man jumped out, raising our sabers and swords cut down all remaining in a flash. None was able to escape.”

Some listening in the Beggar Clan group cheered once more. However both Qiao Feng and Duan Yu pondered in their head, “The reverend had said that these Khitans were all chosen carefully among the best of the best warriors, so how can their skills be so mediocre to die in such a short time?”

Their was a sound of Reverend Zhiguang heaving a long sigh, “Our group just barely raised our arms and had easily killed 19 Khitan warriors, all were ecstatic but also felt uneasy. This group was too ordinary, not a single person lasted more than one move, definitely are not skilled warriors. Was the news that we heard inaccurate? Or did the Khitans planned this so that they could trap us? We exchanged only a few words with each other before we heard the sound of a horse. In the northwest direction there were 2 riders coming this way.”

“This time our group did not bother to ambush anymore, all headed straight to meet the enemy without consulting with anybody. Immediately we saw that the enemy included a man and a woman. The man’s body was powerfully built, his facial expression was solemn. His clothing was more expensive and better looking than all those other 19 Khitans. The woman was young looking, and in her hands was a little baby. The two people were shoulder to shoulder, smiling and talking very intimately, obviously they are husband and wife. The two upon seeing us were greatly surprised and looked around saw the corpse of those 19 warriors all lying on the ground. The man immediately changed his countenance to a fierce and aggressive look, loudly shouting questions at us in a Khitan language that none of us understood what he was trying to say.”

“Shanxi Datong government office’s Iron Tower third brother Fang Daxiong raised his iron rod up and shouted loudly: ‘You Khitan dog there, surrender and accept your fate!’ He shouted and at the same time wielded his iron rod to strike down the Khitan man. Brother Leader in his stomach felt uneasy and was about to yelled out, ‘Brother Fang, don’t be reckless! Do not kill him. We must capture him alive to question him.’

“Brother Leader had not finish his sentence before the Khitan’s right hand had moved forward, snatching the iron rod away from Fang Daxiong. A sound of bones breaking emitted from Fang Daxiong’s hands. Seeing that person was about to strike with the rod from midair down, our group started yelling out, knowing that we won’t be fast enough to charge forward to save Fang Daxiong’s life, thus we started shooting our hidden projectiles at the enemy. The Khitan man only needed to wave his left arm once, and a powerful wind forced all the projectiles to harmlessly land on the side. Looks like Fang Daxiong’s life can no longer be saved, however unexpectedly, he threw the iron rod forward, sending both it and third Brother Fang crashing out to the side of the road. His mouth mumbling did not know what to say.

“In just 1 move, it caused our whole group to stand in shock, witnessing that the level of this person’s martial arts are so high, that it is rare to see one of such caliber in the world. So the news that we received are not false, and fearing that following him there will be more first class masters approaching, thus we must use our large numbers to immediately overwhelm him. 6-7 people charged forward to attack him and 4-5 others moved to take on the female.”

“Unexpected the young married female did not know martial arts. She was slashed just once and lost her arm causing the baby in her hand to fall to the ground. Another person then hacked with a saber cutting off half of her head. The Khitan man’s martial arts although high, but he was also surrounded by six-seven other skilled fighters, so it was impossible for him to rush over to protect his wife and child. The first few moves he just snatched away our weapons and swords, carefully trying not to injure anybody, however when seeing his wife being killed, his eye turned blood red, his face looked fearsome. When I saw his sight then, my hands and feet felt like lead and dared not go forward.”

Zhao Qiansun added, “Can’t blame you for feeling such! Can’t blame you for feeling such!” Ever since he talked to Granny Tan earlier, whoever talked to him were met with either crankiness or rudeness, however the sentences that he just let out seemed like its meaning was partly painful and partly regretful.

Reverend Zhiguang continued, “The fierce battle then already took place 30 years ago. Over the past 30 years I don’t know how many nightmares I had regarding that sight I saw, every image imprinted deeply in my head. The Khitan man brought both his palms forward, I don’t know what palm techniques he used, but he snatched the weapons right out of the hands of two of our brothers, same time using it to both slash and stab killing those two. He at times fought on the ground, then leaped back to continue on the saddle of his horse, bold and fast like a bird pecking a worm. He moved like a ghost or demon. That’s right, he was no different than a demon, finished killing a person to his west, he turned in a blink and killed a person to his east. In just a moment, out of 21 people in our group, 9 people had already been killed.”

“Now everyone was furious, all eyes were red. Brother Leader with Wang Bangzhu and the rest of us all jumped into the fray, willing to trade our lives for his. Shockingly his martial arts was so strange that one could not even imagine, nor could one even predict from which direction his attacks would be coming from. The setting sun in the sky was shining red like blood. There outside of Yanmen Guan Pass the northern wind blowing furiously mixed with the crying sounds of past heroes right before their death. Limbs -arms and feet, heads, weapons, blood were flying and falling all over the place. Whoever was skilled was only able to protect themselves, no one was able to help anyone other.

“Seeing the circumstances, I was truly frightened. But seeing that my brothers were falling one by one, that sight can not help but caused one’s blood to boiled. I gathered all my courage, got on a horse and charge directly at him. Both my hands holding a saber aimed for his head and slashed down, knowing that if this move does not connect, then my life will be handed over to him. When the edge of the saber was barely a meter away from him, the Khitan man suddenly grabbed hold of another person and held him up to block. I shockingly looked and saw that the person being held up was the second senior from the Band of 3 Heroes of Jiangxi Du. I hurriedly pulled back my saber but the edge of the saber went right into the head of the horse I was riding, hitting it with a clang. The animal was in such pain that it neigh a loud sound and it jumped up. At that moment the Khitan man sent out a palm strike right at the moment the horse jumped up so that the horse took the full brunt of that strike for me. If not for that my bones would have all been smashed and how could I have survived to this day?”

“The force of his palm strike was truly terrifying. It sent both horse and rider flying out to the back. My body flying in midair smashed right on top of some tree branches. I was stunned and fazed, not knowing where am I nor did I knew whether I was alive. It was a long time before I was able to look down and saw my brothers still surrounding and fighting the Khitan man. Only 5-6 people were still standing. At that time I also saw this brother here…” Reverend Zhiguang pointed to Zhao Qiansun and continued, “… his body shook once, then fell into a pool of his own blood. I thought he must be dead.”

Zhao Qiansun shook his head and said, “To speak of this story I am very ashamed, but why bother hiding it anymore. It wasn’t because I was injured but because I was so scared that my heart stopped beating. I saw that person holding brother Du’s two legs and tearing his whole body in half. I was so dizzy that I fell unconscious only because of that reason. That’s right I am a coward. Seeing that person killed so many people that I became unconscious.”

Reverend Zhiguang spoke again, “The Khitan man was deadly like a devil while killing numerous brothers. Whoever says that they did not feel fear are being deceitful.” He then looked up and stared at the moon hanging the the sky for a time then continued, “At that point our side only still had 4 people still fighting the Khitan man. Brother Leader knowing that the end was near, knowing that all will die, opened his mouth asking: Who are you? Who are you? The other person did not reply. In just a few moment he killed two more people. He then drew out his right foot and it hit Wang Bangzhu right on the vital pressure points on his back, while his left foot went out to finish the move move Twin Ducks Linking Together (not sure if this is the correct name for it. Helppp??) hitting Brother Leader’s vital pressure point on his ribs. He used his legs to hit the pressure points precisely and powerfully knocking them out. His footwork was so impressive it was unthinkable. If I was not almost on death’s door then, seeing the two people I respect most being seriously wounded, a scream would have escaped my mouth.”

“The Khitan man finished taking care of all his enemies then rushed over to the side of his dead wife’s body, holding it while crying, and let out a loud mournful cry for a long time. Hearing his weeping sounds I could barely withstand the sadness. Surprised to see the Khitan dog who was as cruel as a devil could also show a sorrowful sentiment resembling a human, no different from the sound of those of our Han people.”

Zhao Qiansun coldly said, “If that is so then what is so strange about it? Even wild animals have parent-child, husband-wife sentimental relationships, how is that any different than a human’s? The Khitans are still humans, how are they any different than Hans?”

In the group of beggar clan, someone screamed out, “Liao dogs are evil and cruel, even worse than poisonous snakes and wild beasts. Our Han people are entirely different!” Zhao Qiansun could only smile bitterly and did not answer those words.

Reverend Zhiguang went on with his story, “The Khitan man sat there and cried, both holding tight and looking at his son for a long time. Then he placed his son into the bosom of his dead wife and walked over to where Brother Leader’s body lied. He let loose his anger by screaming and scolding at Brother Leader. Brother Leader did not submit but just glowered at him. His pressure points were hit, his movements and speech were sealed. He could not even muttered a word. The Khitan man suddenly raised his head and let loose a long scream. He picked up a saber from the ground and started carving words on the face of the mountain. At that time it was dark and I was lying far away so I could not see what was written.”

Zhao Qiansun said, “He was carving words in Khitan. Even if you could see it you still wouldn’t be able to read it.”

Reverend Zhiguang replied, “That is right. Even if I saw it I could not read it. On the cliff it was silent on all sides, the only sounds heard were that of the saber carving into the stone. Listening to the sound of stone chips falling down, I dared not to even breath hard. I did not know how long it was before he finally threw down the saber. He bent down to pick up his wife’s corpse and son, then walked to the edge of the cliff and jumped to the bottom of the canyon.”

Everyone hearing that couldn’t help but let out a sound “Ah.” It was unexpected that the story would turn out so.

Reverend Zhiguang continued, “Everyone hearing this retelling must be surprised. At that time with my own eyes witnessing that, I was even more shocked. A person with a high level of martial arts as him living in the Kingdom of Liao must have a high rank. This time when the group of Khitan warriors coming south of the Yellow River to attack Shaolin Temple, if he is not their Leader then at least he must be one of their important characters. He had captured our group’s Leader along with Wang Bangzhu, and the rest were all killed. It seems like he had won. Who would have thought that he would jump down the cliff to commit suicide instead of taking advantage of his victory and moving forward with his mission.”

“I looked downward and all I could see was clouds and fog. The bottom could not be seen. He is still made of flesh and blood. No matter how powerful his martial arts are, to jump from such height there’s no way one could survive. I startled myself and could not bear but called out a cry. Turns out in this weird event there’s another even weirder. I had just finished yelling when there was a sound of a baby crying. From the bottom of the cliff a black bundle flew up and landed right on top of the body of Wang Bangzhu. The sound of a baby crying did not stop but continued. It seems the bundle that landed on Wang Bangzhu was the little baby from earlier. At that point I had stopped being scared, and jumped down from the tree. I ran up to Wang Bangzhu and saw that the Khitan baby was lying on top of him still crying.

“I thought to myself for a bit before I understood fully what happened. When the Khitan woman was killed, the baby she was holding fell to the ground causing the baby to fall unconscious and stopped breathing, but not entirely dead yet. The Khitan man when he was crying sorrowfully, touched his son’s nose and saw that he was not breathing so thought that the son had died. Thus he carried the two corpse and jumped down the cliff to die together. The sudden shocked jolted the baby back to life and started crying. The Khitan’s man skills were shockingly scary. He doesn’t want his son to be buried with him at the bottom of the valley, so he immediately used his strength and threw the baby up. He remembered the exact distance and location to throw the baby to land exactly on top of Wang Bangzhu without harming the it. That Khitan man when falling in midair, found out his baby was alive. He was quick witted enough to react and throw the baby up. His skills to be able to throw something that far and that accurate and calculate the exact distance, is formidably fearsome.

“I looked around at the brothers that died a tragic death, inside was sorrowful and angry, grabbed the baby and planned to throw it against the mountain wall for it to die. Just as I raised my hands to throw, the baby started crying, the face was pulsing red, the bright black eyes were wide staring back at me. If I hadn’t looked into the baby’s eyes I would have threw him already, and that would be the end of the story. However I had saw the eyes of that small child. The child seemed so lovable and innocent that I could no longer follow through. I thought to myself: if I had bullied and kill the baby not yet a year old then that would be a disgraceful deed, not the act of an upright and respectable gentleman.”

In the group of the Beggar Clan, a beggar shouted out, “Reverend Zhiguang! The Liao dogs killed and murder our Han people countless of times. With my own eyes I saw Han babies being speared, and carried around upon a lance on top of a horse to parade around town showing off. If they can kill babies, so why can’t we?”

Reverend Zhiguang let out a long sigh and replied, “That is right. But as the saying goes the darkness in the hearts of man, who here does not have it. That day I saw that the dead were already too many. I couldn’t bring myself to add more to it by killing a little baby. Everyone can say what I did was wrong, everyone can say what I did was cowardly. But in the end I still let the baby live.

“After that I went to release the blocked pressure points of Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu, but my skills were mediocre and plus the pressure point hitting techniques of the Khitan man were top notch, no matter how much strength I exerted, how much I pressed, how much I rubbed or squeezed, I only succeeded in drowning myself in my own sweat. No matter what I did Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu still could not move nor speak. I did not know what else to do and fearing the Khitans will soon come to help so I threw both Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu onto two horses. I myself rode a horse holding the Khitan baby in one arm while the reins of the other two horses in the other and ran all night away from Yanmen Guan Pass to look for a doctor specializing in releasing blocked pressure points, but that was useless. The next night after 12 hours have passed, the pressure points released voluntarily.

“Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu were still worried about the Khitan warriors coming to attack Shaolin, so they immediately returned to Yanmen Guan Pass to scout out the situation. However they only saw flesh and blood left all over from the fight before. The sight was no different from how I left it. I looked down the c