(The Hero Had to Exhaust His Tears Because of the Hu-Han Gratitude and Rancor)

(T/n: Hu – old name for non-Han ethnic groups in the north and west of ancient China)

Two of them gently controlled the bridles and let the horses run slowly to Wuxi. After going for several li (t/n: 0.5 km) they suddenly saw a corpse hanging on a roadside pine tree. Judging from the clothes, it was a Western Xia warrior. Going for several more zhang’s (t/n: 3.333 m), they saw two corpses of Western Xia warriors lying beside a hillside. The blood on the wounds had not yet been dry. They had died not long ago. Duan Yu said: ‘These Western Xia men had met opponents, Miss Wang, you think who killed them?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘This man’s martial arts are extremely good, killing people just by raising his hands, and without the slightest effort. He’s really terrific. Yi, who’s there?’

They saw on the wide road there were two horses coming side by side. One of the two people riding the horses was wearing a red gown, and the other was wearing a green gown. They were none other than A’Zhu and A’Bi. Duan Yu was very happy. He shouted: ‘Miss A’Zhu, Miss A’Bi, you have escaped from dangers! Good, extremely good! Wonderful!’

The four people rode their horses and gathered. They all felt very happy. A’Zhu said: ‘Miss Wang, Mr. Duan, why do you return? I and Sister A’Bi were thinking of going to look for ‘you’.’ (T/n: you – plural) Duan Yu said: ‘We were also looking for you.’ As he finished saying he cast a look at Wang Yuyan, thinking that if he could be grouped together with her in ‘we’, that would really be a great honor. Wang Yuyan said: ‘How did you escape? Have you sniffed that stinking bottle?’ A’Zhu smiled and said: ‘It’s really extremely stinking, Miss, you’ve also sniffed it? It was also Chief Qiao who saved you?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘No. Mr. Duan saved me. You were saved by Chief Qiao?’

Hearing her personally say the sentence ‘Mr. Duan saved me’, Duan Yu felt buoyant as if he was on cloud nine, after that he felt giddy, and almost fell down from horseback.

A’Zhu said: ‘Yes, after I and A’Bi were poisoned, we were in a daze and could not move. Together with the Beggar Society’s people, we were tied up by those Western Xia barbarians then put on horseback. After going for a while, it started to rain heavily so they divided the task of finding a rain shelter among themselves then dispersed. Several Western Xia warriors took me and A’Bi into a summerhouse over there to avoid the rain. Only when the heavy rain had stopped did they go out. At that time, in the back there was someone coming on a horse. He was Chief Qiao. Seeing two of us being tied up by Western Xia men he was very surprised. When he hadn’t asked any question, I and A’Bi already shouted: ‘Chief Qiao, save me!’ As soon as those Western Xia warriors heard the two words ‘Chief Qiao’, they one after another drew their weapons to kill him. As a result, some were hung on a pine tree, some rolled down a hillside, and some fell into a brook.’

Wang Yuyan smiled and said: ‘That’s what happened just now, right?’

A’Zhu said: ‘Yes. I said: ‘Chief Qiao, I and my sister are poisoned, sorry to trouble you, but could you search for the antidote on the Western Xia barbarians’ bodies please?’ Chief Qiao ferreted out a small porcelain bottle on the corpse of a Western Xia warrior. Whether it was sweet or stinking, there’s no need to talk much about that.’

Wang Yuyan asked: ‘Where’s Chief Qiao?’ A’Zhu said: ‘Hearing that the Beggar Society’s people had all been poisoned and captured he said he wanted to go save them and hurriedly left. He also asked about Mr Duan, looking very concerned.’ Duan Yu sighed and said: ‘This sworn big brother of mine really has a deep and serious sense of personal loyalty.’ A’Zhu said: ‘The Beggar Society’s people couldn’t tell good and bad apart and drove away a good Chief. Now they’re suffering from their own actions, serves them right. In my opinion, Chief Qiao doesn’t need to save them at all. Just let them taste some misfortunes. See if they’ll still rashly expel people?’ Duan Yu said: ‘My sword big brother is a faithful man. He’d rather have other people turn their backs on him but he himself won’t agree to turn his back on them.’

A’Bi said: ‘Miss Wang, where are we going now?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘At first I and Mr Duan discussed that we had to go save you two. Now all the four of us are safe. This really can’t be better. The Beggar Society’s affairs aren’t related to us at all. In my opinion, let’s to Shaolin Monastery to look for your young master, is that okay?’ What the two pretty girls A’Zhu and A’Bi cared for the most was also Mr Murong, hearing her say so they clapped their hands and cheered at the same time. Duan Yu felt very grieved but he calmly said: ‘This young master of yours, I really admire him very much, and must meet him by all means. Anyway there’s nothing to do so I’ll follow you to Shaolin Monastery one time.’

Immediately the four people turned their horses and went towards the north. Wang Yuyan and the two pretty girls A’Zhu and A’Bi continuously smiled and talked about things like how dangerous it had been in the mill, how Duan Yu had dealt with the enemies, and how Li Yanzong, a Western Xia warrior, had spared their lives and given them the antidote in detail. A’Zhu and A’Bi were surprised ceaselessly.

Whenever the three young girls talked to an interesting part, they chuckled and often turned their heads and looked at Duan Yu. They used their sleeves to cover up their mouths but also did not dare to laugh freely. Duan Yu knew they were talking about his own foolish actions, but thinking that even though he had acted like a clown, in the end he had protected Wang Yuyan carefully, he could not help feeling both ashamed and somewhat proud; seeing that the three young girls were very close to each other and were treating him as a complete outsider, he thought that at this moment it was already like this, wait until they met Mr Murong, he himself would naturally have no place to take shelter, Murong Fu would probably be like Bao Butong and would drive himself away without any courtesy. The more he thought the more bored and apathetic he felt.

After going for several li’s (t/n: 1 li = 0.5 km) and passing through a big wood of mulberry trees, they suddenly heard the sounds of two boys crying at the edge of the wood. The four people urged their horses forward and saw that they were two fourteen or fifteen year old little Buddhist novices. Their Buddhist robes were full of bloodstains. One of them was even injured in the forehead. A’Bi softly asked: ‘Little monks, who bullied you? Why are you injured?’

The Buddhist novice who was not injured in the forehead cried and said: ‘There were lots and lots of foreign villains coming to the temple. They killed our master and chased the two of us away.’ When the four people heard the two words ‘foreign villains’, they all looked at each other and thought: ‘Are they those Western Xia men?’ A’Zhu asked: ‘Where’s your temple? Who are the foreign villains?’ That little Buddhist novice said: ‘We’re from Tianning Temple, over there…’ As he finished saying he pointed to the northeast and said again: ‘Those foreigners had captured more than one hundred beggars and went into the temple to avoid the rain. They demanded wine and meat and also wanted to kill fowls and cattle. Our master said that was a sin and did not let them kill the cattle in the temple. They then killed our master and more than ten apprentice brothers in the temple, boohoo, boohoo.’ A’Zhu asked: ‘Have they gone?’ The little Buddhist novice pointed to the wisp of kitchen smoke that was rising and waving in the wind behind the mulberry wood and said: ‘They’re cooking cattle meat. What a sin. Bodhisattva bless, please throw these foreigners into the Avici Hell.’ A’Zhu said: ‘You should quickly run a little far away from here. If you two get caught by those foreigners, they’ll butcher and eat you.’ Frightened, the two little Buddhist novices staggered away.

Duan Yu disapproved of that and said: ‘The two of them already have no way out. Sister A’Zhu, why did you need to threaten them?’ A’Zhu smiled and said: ‘This wasn’t threatening. What I said was the truth.’ A’Bi said: ‘The Beggar Society’s people have already been kept prisoners in that Tianning Temple but Chief Qiao has pursued in the direction of Wuxi city. He’s certainly rushed for nothing.’

A’Zhu suddenly had an odd idea and said: ‘Miss Wang, I wanna disguise myself as Chief Qiao and sneak in the temple, then throw that stinking bottle for the beggars to sniff. After they’ve escaped from danger, they’ll sure feel very grateful to Chief Qiao.’ Wang Yuyan smiled and said: ‘Chief Qiao is big in stature and is a tall muscular man. How can you disguise yourself as him?’ A’Zhu smiled and said: ‘The harder it gets, the more obvious A’Zhu’s skills are.’ Wang Yuyan smiled and said: ‘You can make yourself look like Chief Qiao, but you can’t immitate his unmatched extraordinary skills. There’re full of Western Xia’s First-class Hall’s experts in Tianning Temple, how can you come and go freely? In my opinion, disguishing yourself as a cook or an old peasant woman who sells vegetables would make it a bit easier to sneak in.’ A’Zhu said: ‘You want me to disguise as an old peasant woman. There’s nothing interesting about it. I’m not going.’

Wang Yuyan looked at Duan Yu, wanting to say something but not being able to say it. Duan Yu asked: ‘Miss, what do you wanna say?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘I just wanted to ask you to disguise as a person, and go with A’Zhu to Tianning Temple, but after considering I find it inappropriate.’ Duan Yu said: ‘Who do you want me to disguise as?’ Wang Yuyan said: ‘The brave men of the Beggar Society have a very suspicious mind. They’ve wrongly accused my biaoge and Chief Qiao of colluding with each other and killing their Vice-Chief Ma. If… if… my biaoge and Chief Qiao free them from difficult situations, then they won’t blindly suspect anymore.’ Duan Yu felt very sad and said: ‘You want me to disguise as your biaoge?’ The white face of Wang Yuyan reddened. She said: ‘The enemies in Tianning Temple are very strong so it’ll be very dangerous for you two to go like this. Not going is still better.’

Duan Yu thought: ‘I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Even if my body is ground to dust I won’t hesitate.’ Suddenly he also thought: ‘When I’ve disguised as her biaoge, maybe her manner towards me will be a bit different. It’ll also be good to conveniently enjoy her tenderness in a short while.’ Thinking to here, he could not help feeling very excited and said: ‘What’s so dangerous about it? Running away is exactly my speciality.’

Wang Yuyan said: ‘I already said it was inappropriate. My biaoge kills the enemies as easily as turning his hand over, and has never run away.’ As soon as Duan Yu heard that, he felt a stream of cold air running straight down from the top of his head. He thought: ‘Your biaoge is a great hero and a great person of exceptional abilities. I’m just not suitable to disguise as him. If I imitate him and make a fool of myself in front of other people, that’ll certainly desecrate his reputation.’ Seeing that he was being in low spirits, A’Bi said to console him: ‘The enemies outnumber us so it’s urgent that we temporarily step aside. We only wanna save people, and not to become well-known by competing in martial arts.’

A’Zhu’s pair of clever eyes looked at Duan Yu from the head to the feet to size him up. After quite a while she nodded and said: ‘Mr Duan, it’s really quite hard for you to disguise as our young master. Luckily, the Beggar Society’s people have never known our young master, so we only need a person that generally looks and sounds like him.’ Duan Yu said: ‘Your skills are great, it’s suitable for you to disguise as Chief Qiao. Otherwise, because Chief Qiao was the man that the Beggar Society’s people met daily, if there’s a little bit of flaw, our true identities will immediately be exposed.’ A’Zhu smiled and said: ‘Chief Qiao is a stately man but it’s easy for me to disguise as him. Our young master is almost the same as you in stature, his age is also not older than yours too much, both of you are young masters of influential families and like to study, but if we want you to give up your true appearance and change into a Mr Murong, that’s really very hard.’

Duan Yu sighed and said: ‘Mr Murong is a phoenix or dragon among people, how can other people imitate him perfectly (Duan Yu’s words are 邯郸学步 – learn to walk the Handan style – taken from ‘Zhuangzi – Autumn Water’)? I think it’d still be better if in disguise I don’t look very similar to him, otherwise when I run away, wouldn’t that damage Mr Murong’s distinct and good reputation?’

Wang Yuyan blushed and said in a low voice: ‘Mr Duan, I made a slip of the tongue, are you still angry with me?’ Duan Yu hastily said: ‘No, no, how do I dare to be angry with you?’

Wang Yuyan gave a charming smile and said: ‘Sister A’Zhu, where’re you two going to disguise?’ A’Zhu said: ‘To able to buy the things for application we gotta go to a small town.’

The four people turned their horses and went westward. After going for seven or eight li’s, they arrived in a small town called Ma Lang Qiao. That town was very small and did not have any inn. A’Zhu came up with an idea. She hired a boat and anchored it in the middle of a river. After that she went buy clothes and necessary things, and disguised on the boat. In Jiangnan, there were small rivers everywhere, and there were a lot of boats, no less than the livestock of the North.

She helped Duan Yu change clothes and made up for him first, letting him hold a folding fan in his right hand, wear a blue robe and wear a ring on his right finger. A’Zhu said: ‘Our young master wears a Han-dynasty jade ring, but where to buy it here? Use Qingtian stone to imitate is also okay.’ Duan Yu could only force a smile and thought: ‘Murong Fu is a precious jade item. I’m a lowly stone. In the viewpoints of these three young girls, the respective positions of the two of us are also like that.’ A’Zhu spread flour on his face, made his nose look higher, and made his cheeks look rather fuller. Then she took a pen and altered his eyebrows and the edge of his eyes. After disguising Duan Yu, she smiled to Wang Yuyan: ‘Miss Wang, do you think there’s still any dissimilarity?’

Wang Yuyan did not answer and only looked at him in a trance. Her eyes were filled with affectionate feelings. Obviously she was smitten and her mind was wandering high in the air.

As soon as seeing this infatuated look of hers, Duan Yu could not help feeling as if he was floating. But he immediately thought: ‘She’s looking at Murong Fu and not looking at Duan Yu at all.’ He also thought: ‘I wonder how handsome that Murong Fu guy is. How can he be one hundred times better-looking than me? It’s a pity I can’t see myself.’ For a while he felt happy, then for another while he felt sad.

The two people looked at each other, thoughts surging in their respective minds. They did not know that A’Zhu and A’Bi had already gone to the back of the cabin to disguise themselves.

After a good while, they suddenly heard the husky voice of a man: ‘Ah, so you’re here, it was so painful for your big brother to find you.’ Frightened, Duan Yu raised his head and saw the person who had just said was Qiao Feng. He could not help feeling very happy and said: ‘Big brother, it’s you, this’s very good. We’re about to disguise as you to go save people, now you’ve personally come here, sister A’Zhu doesn’t need to disguise anymore.’

Qiao Feng said: ‘The Beggar Society’s people have expelled me from the Society, whether they’re dead or alive, I don’t care. Good brother, come here, come here, let’s disembark and go for a drink. We’ll drink twenty bowls of wine.’ Duan Yu hastily said: ‘Big brother, the Beggar Society’s brave men are all your former good brothers, can you please still go save them?’ Qiao Feng angrily said: ‘What does a bookworm like you know? Come here. Go for a drink with me!’ As he finished saying he grabbed Duan Yu’s hand. Duan Yu had no choice but to say: ‘Okay, I’ll go for a drink with you first. After drinking wine we’ll save people!’

Qiao Feng suddenly giggled in a lovely manner, his laughs sounded clear and graceful. It was really suprising that a big and tall man could be uttering this kind of girlish laugh. Duan Yu was startled but he immediately understood, smiled and said: ‘Sister A’Zhu, your disguising skills are really extremely fantastic. Even the voice and words are imitated so well like this.’

A’Zhu changed to Qiao Feng’s voice and said: ‘Good brother, let’s go. Make sure you bring that stinking bottle.’ She turned towards Wang Yuyan and A’Bi and said: ‘The two ladies had better wait here.’ As she finished saying she held Duan Yu’s hand and strode onshore. No one knew what she had applied to her hand. It was a delicate small white hand, yet when held out, it unexpectedly looked swarthy. Even though it was smaller than Qiao Feng’s hand, in short periods of time it was still hard for other people to distinguish.

Wang Yuyan looked at the back of Duan Yu. She only thought: ‘If he really was biaoge, that’d be so good. Biaoge, at this moment are you also thinking about me?’

A’Zhu and Duan Yu rode their horses towards Tianning Temple. When they were about five li’s away from the temple, fearing that the Western Xia warriors in the temple could hear the hoofbeats, they tied the horses in the cattle stall of a farmhouse and went forwards on foot.

A’Zhu said: ‘Brother Murong, after arriving at the temple, I’ll talk big, brag and terrify them, you’ll seize the opportunity to remove the poison in the Beggar Society’s people with the stinking bottle.’ She said these few sentences in a deep gruff voice, just like the way Qiao Feng spoke. Duan Yu smiled and replied.

The two people strode to the outside of Tianning Temple. They only saw more than ten Western Xia warriors standing at the gate of the temple, holding long sabers in their hands and looking very fierce. When A’Zhu and Duan Yu saw that, they got nervous and could not help feeling terrified. A’Zhu said in a low voice: ‘Mr Duan, after a while you must pull me and run away at high speed, otherwise if they wanna find and challenge me in martial arts, that can be hard to handle.’ Duan Yu said: ‘Okay.’ But he said this word in a trembling voice. In fact, he also felt extremely scared.

While the two people were discussing in a low voice and sticking their heads out and looking around, a Western Xia warrior at the gate already saw them and shouted loudly: ‘Two bastards standing over there, it’s not nice to be sneaky, are you spies?’ As he was shouting, four other warriors rushed out.

A’Zhu had no alternative but to hold forth her chest and stride forwards. She said in a rough voice: ‘Quickly inform your General that Qiao Feng of the Beggar Society and Murong Fu of Jiangnan come to pay General He Lian of Western Xia a visit.’

The head warrior was astonished when he heard that. He hastily cupped his fist in his hand, bowed and said: ‘So it’s Chief Qiao of the Beggar Society visiting. Please pardon us for being disrespectful. I will report right away.’ He immediately turned around and quickly stepped inside the temple. The rest respectfully dangled their hands and stood to the sides.

Before long, sounds of bugles were heard, the gate of was opened wide. The Hall Master of First-class Hall of Western Xia He Lian Tie Shu led the experts like Nu Erhai out to welcome. Ye Erniang, South Sea Divine Alligator and Yun Zhonghe were also among them. Duan Yu lowered his head and did not dare to look directly at them, his heart pounding.

He Lian Tie Shu said: ‘I have long admired the great reputation of ‘Murong of Gusu’ with the ‘Paying Him Back Using His Own Methods’ technique. Today, being able to meet the worthy, I felt honored, ah, really honored.’ As he finished saying he cupped his fist in his hand to Duan Yu in salute. Because ‘First-class Hall’ of Western Xia and the Beggar Society had become the enemies of each other, he thought there was no need to act polite towards Qiao Feng.

Duan Yu hastily returned the salute and said: ‘General He Lian’s reputation has reached the edges of the seas so I have long been looking forward to meeting the heroes and great men of First-class Hall. Today our arrival is very sudden, hopefully you’ll be magnanimous enough to forgive this.’ He was already very good at saying these fanciful polite words therefore they sounded grandiose and did not have any flaw.

He Lian Tie Shu said: ‘I’ve often heard people in wulin say: ‘North Qiao Feng, South Murong’, and when talking about heroes of the Central Plains, they choose the two of you as the leading figures. Today the two of you visit here at the same time, how fortunate! Please, please.’ He then bent his body and invited the two people to enter the main hall of the temple.

A’Zhu and Duan Yu put on a bold face and went side by side with He Lian Tie Shu. Duan Yu thought: ‘Judging from the words and manner of this Western Xia general, it seems he respects Mr Murong more than he respects my big brother Qiao. Could it be that this Murong Fu guy’s martial arts and personality are one level above big brother Qiao’s? As I see, this’s improbable, improbable.’

Suddenly there was a strange voice: ‘Improbable, improbable.’ Startled, Duan Yu turned his head and looked at that person. It was South Sea Divine Alligator. He was squinting at Duan Yu at a slant with a pair of eyes which were as small as beans, and only shook his head. Duan Yu’s heart palpitated. He thought: ‘Terrible, terrible! Perhaps I was recognized by him.’ He heard South Sea Divine Alligator say: ‘Looks like you have less than three taels of bones (t/n: in ancient China, 1 tael ~ 38 g), what the heck are you capable of? Hey, I ask you. They say you can ‘Pay Him Back Using His Own Methods’, I, Yue Laoer (t/n: Yue the Second), certainly don’t believe so.’ Duan Yu immediately felt relieved: ‘So he doesn’t recognize me at all.’ He heard South Sea Divine Alligator say again: ‘I don’t need you to show your skills either. I only ask you, do you know what Yue Laoer’s special skills are? What fvcking skills you’ll use to deal with me to be regarded as fvcking ‘Paying Your Father Back Using Your Father’s Own Methods’?’ Saying to here he stood with arms akimbo, looking arrogant.

He Lian Tie Shu at first had wanted to talk to stop him, but he changed his mind. Murong Fu had a great reputation, but whether the name matched the reality, there was no harm in checking it out through this crazy South Sea Divine Alligator. Therefore at that moment he did not interrupt him at all.

While talking, they had already entered the main hall. He Lian Tie Shu invited Duan Yu to sit at the top but Duan Yu gave the top position up to A’Zhu.

South Sea Divine Alligator said loudly: ‘Hey, Mr Murong, you say, what’s my best skill?’ Duan Yu smiled and thought: ‘If other people ask me, I really won’t be able answer. But you asked me, that’s a lucky coincidence.’ He instantly opened his folding fan, flapped it gently several times and said: ‘South Sea Divine Alligator Yue Laosan (t/n: Yue the Third), originally your best skill was twisting off other people’s necks in a clack sound. In recent years your skills have improved. At the moment the martial arts that you’re most pleased with are the Alligator-Tailed Whip and the Alligator-Mouthed Scissors. To deal with you, naturally I’ll use the Alligator-Tailed Whip and the Alligator-Mouthed Scissors.’

He mentioned the names of the Alligator-Tailed Whip and the Alligator-Mouthed Scissors in one go. Certainly South Sea Divine Alligator was so surprised that his jaw dropped. Even Ye Erniang and Yun Zhonghe were also extremely surprised. South Sea Divine Alligator had just practiced these two weapons recently and had never put them to use in front of other people. He had only used them once when fighting Yun Zhonghe atop Mt. Wuliang in Dali. At that time, no one else besides Mu Wanqing had seen the weapons. But they could never have thought Mu Wanqing had already told this fake Mr Murong of the present about that from beginning to end.

South Sea Divine Alligator tilted his head and looked carefully at Duan Yu. Even though he was ferocious and ruthless, he admired heroes and brave men. After a while, he gave a thumb up and said: ‘Good skill!’ Duan Yu laughed and said: ‘That’s a laugh.’ South Sea Divine Alligator thought: ‘He could mention even the weapons I’ve mastered recently, there’s no need to ask him about my remaining martial arts. Too bad big brother is not here, otherwise he’d put him to the test. Ah, I got it!’ He said loudly: ‘Mr Murong, you can use my martial arts, there’s nothing strange and rare about that, but if my master comes here, you sure won’t know his martial arts.’ Duan Yu smiled and said: ‘Who’s your master? What extraordinary skills does he have?’ South Sea Divine Alligator laughed and said boastfully: ‘Needless to say, the master who first taught me martial arts passed away long ago. But the skills of my newly recognized master are no small matter. Let’s not talk about the other things, just the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’ alone, I believe no second person in the world knows.’

Duan Yu muttered: ‘The ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’, hum, that’s truly an amazing technique. Who would have expected Mr Duan of Dali to accept you as his disciple? But I somewhat don’t believe this.’ South Sea Divine Alligator hastily said: ‘Why do I need to fool you? A lot of people here personally heard Mr Duan call me disciple.’ Duan Yu laughed up his sleeve: ‘At first you’d rather die than agree to call me master, but now you fear that I don’t recognize you as disciple.’ He then said: ‘Hum, if so, you most probably have already acquired your master’s unique skill? Congrats! Congrats!’

South Sea Divine Alligator shook his head continuously and said: ‘I haven’t, I haven’t! You claim that you know every martial arts technique in the world. If you can walk three steps of the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’, Yue Laoer will be convinced.’

Duan Yu smiled and said: ‘Though the Wave Treading Exquisite Steps is hard, I’ve also already learned several steps. Master Yue, come here and try to catch me.’ As he finished saying, his robe fluttered, he went to and stood in the middle of the main hall.

The Western Xia people had never heard of the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’ technique, hearing South Sea Divine Alligator say that it was extremely mysterious and fantastic like this, they all hoped to increase their knowledge. They immediately split up and stood in the four corners of the main hall to see how Duan Yu would perform.

South Sea Divine Alligator let out a fierce roar and reached out his left hand. His right hand passed below his left palm to grab Duan Yu. Duan Yu took two steps obliquely then backed off by half a step. His body was like the wind stirring lotus leaves, gently dodging it. A ‘pu’ sound was heard, South Sea Divine Alligator had been too late to withdraw his force and his five right fingers had stuck into a column in the main hall by several cun’s (1 cun = 3.333 cm). Seeing that his internal energy was this good, all the bystanders went pale. Because the first attack had missed, South Sea Divine Alligator roared more fiercely and jumped up then struck down from the air. Duan Yu did not pay any attention to that, and only concerned himself with the Eight Diagrams-based footwork that he was using to walk freely and comfortably. South Sea Divine Alligator sped up his attacks and roared more and more loudly, looking totally like a ferocious beast.

When Duan Yu caught a glimpse of that ferocious face, his heart skipped a beat. He hastily turned his head away, took out from his sleeve a towel, blindfolded himself and said: ‘Even if I’m blindfolded, you still won’t be able to catch me.’

South Sea Divine Alligator’s palms danced in the air and fiercely attacked Duan Yu, but they always missed his body by small distances. The bystanders all felt scared for Duan Yu, their palms excreting cold sweats. A’Zhu cared about Duan Yu therefore she was filled with even more apprehension. Suddenly she shouted loudly in a rough voice: ‘South Sea Divine Alligator, how is Mr Murong’s Wave Treading Exquisite Steps compared to your master’s?’

South Sea Divine Alligator was startled. All the energy in his chest was instantly discharged. He stopped moving and said: ‘Excellent, excellent! You can walk this strange footwork while having your eyes encased. I’m afraid even my master couldn’t do so. Okay! Murong of Gusu deserves his reputation. I, South Sea Divine Alligator, have respect for you.’

Duan Yu pulled off the towel on his eyes and returned to his seat. Immediately there was a round of thunderous applause in the main hall.

Waiting until the two people had settled into their seats, He Lian Tie Shu raised his teacup and said: ‘Please have some tea. As the two heroes are visiting us, I’m wondering what you have to instruct us.’

A’Zhu said: ‘Some brothers of my Society somehow offended General. I heard that General sent experts to use high-level martial arts to capture and take them here. May I be bold to request that General release them?’ She specially stressed the words ‘sent experts to use high-level martial arts to capture and take them here’ to ridicule the Western Xia people for using the despicable method of poisoning to capture people.

He Lian Tie Shu smiled and said: ‘That’s not wrong. Just now Mr Murong displayed his abilities. Sure enough, he deserves his reputation. Chief Qiao and Mr Murong are equally famous, so you too need to show off your skills to everyone and make us Western Xia people sincerely admire. Only the