n will we release every brave man of your Society.’

A’Zhu was very worried and thought: ‘If I imitate Chief Qiao’s skills, wouldn’t this immediately be exposed?’ While trying to find a pretext to decline suddenly she felt achy and weak in her limbs, which was the same as when she had been poisoned with the poisonous gas in the evening of the previous day. She could not help feeling very frightened: ‘How terrible, who would’ve expected these Western Xia villains to use the old trick again even at this moment? What should I do?’

Duan Yu was immune to harmful substances therefore he did not felt anything. Seeing that A’Zhu was weak and being paralyzed on her chair, he knew that she was being affected by the poisonous gas again. He hastily took out from his bosom that stinking bottle, removed its stopper and placed it at the tip of her nose. A’Zhu took some deep sniffs. Because she was not seriously poisoned, the numbness in her limbs quickly disappeared. She stretched out her hand to hold the bottle and kept sniffing nonstop. She found it strange as to why the enemies had not yet started to interfere. When looking at those Western Xia warriors, she only saw that every one of them was weak and being paralyzed on their chair. They were not budging at all and were only moving their eyeballs around chaotically.

Duan Yu said: ‘How strange, these people get caught in their own trap. Could it be that they poisoned then were poisoned by themselves?’ A’Zhu went to He Lian Tie Shu and pushed him.

The body of the general was immediately bent and he sat on the chair in a sloping posture. He was really poisoned. But he could still say, therefore he shouted: ‘Hey, who used the ‘Sad Weak Clear Wind’ without permission? Quickly take the antidote here, quickly take the antidote here!’ He shouted several times, but because all of his subordinates were being weak, they only said: ‘Sir, subordinate can’t move.’ Nu Erhai said: ‘There must be an infiltrator, if not, how can they know the complicated using method of this ‘Sad Weak Clear Wind’?’ He Lian Tie Shu angrily said: ‘Correct! Who? You quickly investigate to clear this up then smash him to ten thousand pieces for me.’ Nu Erhai said: ‘Yes, sir! But in the current situation, we must get the antidote first.’ He Lian Tie Shu said: ‘That’s right. You go and take the antidote here.’

Nu Erhai wrinkled his eyebrows, looked askance at the porcelain bottle in A’Zhu’s hand and said: ‘Chief Qiao, sorry to trouble you, but could you please let us sniff the antidote in this bottle? Our General will definitely reward you generously.’

A’Zhu laughed and said: ‘Who comes here to get your General’s generous rewards? I wanna urgently go rescue our Society’s brothers.’

Nu Erhai said again: ‘Mr Murong, there’s also a vial on my body. Could you please take it out, remove the stopper and let me sniff it a bit?’

Duan Yu reached into his bosom and fished out a vial. It really was the antidote. He laughed and said: ‘I’ve taken out the antidote but I won’t let you sniff.’ Then he went alongside A’Zhu to the back hall. When they pushed open the door of the west room they saw that it was crammed with people, all of whom were the Beggar Society’s members who had been captured.

As soon as A’Zhu went in, Elder Wu called out: ‘Chief Qiao, it’s you. Thank heavens.’ A’Zhu took the antidote for him to sniff and said: ‘This is the antidote. You go remove the poison in the bodies of all brothers one by one.’ Elder Wu was very happy. He waited until his limbs could move to detoxify Elder Song. Duan Yu then used the antidote of Nu Erhai to detoxify Elder Xu.

A’Zhu said: ‘The Beggar Society has a lot of people. If detoxifying one by one like this, when will it finish? Elder Wu, you go search the bodies of those Western Xia people to see if they still have the antidote.’

Elder Wu said: ‘Yes!’ then trotted towards the main hall. Swear words, yells, and pops of beating suddenly could be heard from the main hall. Obviously on the one hand Elder Wu was searching for the antidote, and on the other hand he was beating them to vent his anger. Before long he returned, carrying six small porcelain bottles with both hands, smiled and said: ‘I focused on searching the barbarians with flashy expensive clothes. As expected, the ones with nice clothes had the antidote on their bodies. Ha-ha, those dudes have been miserable.’ Duan Yu laughed and said: ‘Why?’ Elder Wu laughed and said: ‘I gave each of them two slaps in the mouth. With those who had the antidote, I specially used some more force.’

Suddenly he remembered that he had never seen Duan Yu, therefore he asked: ‘Brother, what, may I ask, is your name? Thank you very much for helping us.’ Duan Yu said: ‘My compound surname is Murong. I came to help too late, putting everybody to great inconvenience for a short while. This is my fault, my fault.’

Hearing that this man in front of them is the famous ‘Murong of Gusu’, the Beggar Society’s people all were extremely astonished.

Elder Song said: ‘We’ve been blinded and wrongly accused Mr Murong of killing Vice-Chief Ma. Today, if he and Chief Qiao hadn’t saved us, everybody would have fallen into the hands of these Western Xia bastards. If that happened, would we still be able to have a good end?’ Elder Wu also said: ‘Chief Qiao, a senior doesn’t mind juniors’ faults, it’d be better if you return to be our Chief.’

Quan Guanqing said coldly: ‘Master Qiao and Mr Murong really are intimate friends.’ Calling Qiao Feng as ‘Master Qiao’ instead of ‘Chief Qiao’, certainly he no longer recognized him as the Chief. Moreover he had said that he and Mr Murong really were intimate friends, which was a very dangerous sentence. The Beggar Society’s people had been suspecting Qiao Feng of making use of Murong Fu to eliminate Ma Dayuan but Qiao Feng had always denied that he and Murong Fu knew each other. Today the two of them had gone to Tianning Temple together. They had also spoken to and laughed with each other, looking fairly close. Obviously this was not the first time they had met.

A’Zhu thought that these people all were old acquaintances of Qiao Feng, if she dragged this situation out a little longer, they would surely recognize her flaws. Therefore she said: ‘It won’t be late to slowly discuss the important affairs of the Society. I go see those Western Xia bastards.’ As she finished saying she walked towards the main hall. Soon afterward Duan Yu followed her.

When the two people had arrived at the main hall, they heard He Lian Tie Shu shouting abuse: ‘Quickly find out the name of this Western Xia bastard. After returning, search and confiscate his house, kill all the males and females, old people and young people in his family, not sparing even a single fowl or dog. Fvck him, he’s a Western Xia man, why did he help strangers by stealing my ‘Sad Weak Clear Wind’ and spreading it carelessly?’ Duan Yu was surprised and thought: ‘Who’s the Western Xia man he was cursing?’ He noticed that after He Lian Tie Shu let out a cursing sentence, Nu Erhai would reply with a sentence. He Lian said again: ‘He wrote these eight characters on the wall, isn’t it obvious that he wanna ridicule us?’

Duan Yu and A’Zhu raised their heads and saw four rows of words which looked like flying dragons and dancing snakes written on the whitewashed wall:

‘Paying Him Back, Using His Own Methods, Narcotic Poisonous Wind, I Fully Return To You.’ [以彼之道，还施彼身，迷人毒风，原璧归君]

The ink strokes were still dripping wet. Obviously the writer of these words had left not long ago.

Duan Yu uttered an ‘Ah’ sound and said: ‘This… Ah… Was it Mr Murong who wrote this?’ A’Zhu said in a low voice: ‘Don’t forget you’re Mr Murong. Our young master can write different styles of calligraphy, I can’t recognize if these words were written by him.’

Duan Yu turned towards Nu Erhai and asked: ‘Who wrote this?’

Nu Erhai did not answer and secretly felt anxious, not knowing how the Beggar Society’s people would handle them. After capturing the Beggar Society’s people, they themselves had done just about everything, including beating and insulting, therefore they only needed to ‘Pay Him Back, Using His Own Methods’, that would already be very hard to bear.

Seeing that the Beggar Society’s people were coming to the main hall in succession, A’Zhu said in a low voice: ‘The important business has been done, let’s go!’ She then said loudly: ‘I have another important business and must go handle it with Mr Murong. See you later.’ As she finished saying she trotted out of the hall. The people like Elder Wu screamed out: ‘Chief, please wait, Chief, please wait.’ A’Zhu did not dare to stay there anymore. She and Duan Yu went faster and faster. The Beggar Society’s people had always revered Qiao Feng therefore no one dared to go forwards to stop them.

After the two people had gone for about a li (0.5 km), A’Zhu laughed and said: ‘Mr Duan, it was really a lucky coincidence. That hideous disciple of yours by chance wanted you to perform the Wave Treading Exquisite Steps technique. He also said that you were even better than his master.’ Duan Yu let out an ‘Um’ sound. A’Zhu continued: ‘I wonder who released the narcotic drug? That Western Xia general kept saying that there was an infiltrator. I think it was probably Western Xia men themselves who did that.’

Duan Yu suddenly recalled a person and said: ‘Could it be Li Yanzong, the Western Xia warrior we met in the mill?’ A’Zhu had never seen Li Yanzong therefore she was unable to reply. She only said: ‘Let’s go and talk to Miss Wang, asking her to consider it in detail.’

While they were going, they heard hoofbeats. On the main road a person was galloping towards them. From afar Duan Yu saw that it was no one other than Qiao Feng. He happily said: ‘He’s big brother Qiao!’ When he was about to call out, A’Zhu hastily pulled his sleeve and said: ‘Don’t shout. The real person has arrived!’ then turned her body away. Duan Yu immediately understood: ‘A’Zhu is disguising as big brother Qiao, it wouldn’t be very nice if she’s seen by him.’ Before long, Qiao Feng had already come close. Duan Yu did not dare to face him directly and thought: ‘When big brother Qiao meets the brave men of the Beggar Society, the truth will immediately come out. I wonder if he will blame A’Zhu for playing a trick like this or not.’

After saving A’Zhu and A’Bi, Qiao Feng had known that the Beggar Society’s brothers had been captured by Western Xia men. Feeling very anxious, he had been searched for them all over the place. But unlike in the North where there were only roads, in Jiangnan, there were paddy fields and mulberry groves everywhere, and waterways and land routes also intersected each other. Qiao Feng had searched for a very long time, and with great difficulty he had run into the two little Buddhist novices of Tianning Temple. He had asked them clearly about the direction, only then had he rushed for Tianning Temple. When he saw the vigorous expression and the handsome appearance of Duan Yu he thought: ‘This young nobleman and my brother Duan Yu look equally bright.’ As A’Zhu had already turned her body away he did not pay attention to her. Worrying about the Beggar Society’s brothers, he spurred the horse on to full speed and swept past them.

When he arrived at Tianning Temple, he saw more than ten disciples of the Beggar Society binding the Western Xia warriors and leading them out from the inside of the temple. Qiao Feng was very happy and thought: ‘So the Beggar Society’s brothers have turned the losing situation around and won instead.’

Seeing that Qiao Feng had gone then returned, the beggars one after another moved forwards to welcome him and said: ‘Chief, how to deal with these barbarians? Please give us instructions.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘I’m already no longer a member of the Beggar Society, don’t mention the word ‘Chief’ again. Was anyone injured?’

After the people like Elder Xu were informed, they all quickly ran out to welcome him. When they saw Qiao Feng, their faces either had an ashamed expression or lit up with happiness. Elder Song said loudly: ‘Chief, yesterday in the apricot forest, our Society’s spy in Western Xia sent back an urgent piece of military information. Elder Xu himself decided not to let you see, do you know what it was? Elder Xu, quickly take it out for Chief to see.’ His words sounded rather rude.

With an ashamed look on his face, Elder Xu took out a small paper ball that originally had been concealed in a wax ball and sighed: ‘I was wrong.’ Then he held it out to Qiao Feng.

Qiao Feng shook his head and did not receive it. Elder Song forced his way forwards, grabbed and opened that thin crinkled paper then read loudly:

‘Report to Chief: Subordinate has found out that General He Lian Tie Shu of Western Xia has led the experts of First-class Hall to the Central Plains to deal with our Society. They have a dangerous type of poisonous gas. When released it totally odorless and make people involuntarily unable to move. When we meet them, make sure we plug up our nostrils first, or defeat their leader first to snatch the awfully stinking antidote. Otherwise it’d be extremely unsafe. Urgent! Urgent! Subordinate Yi Dabiao of the Great Faith branch urgently reports.’

As Elder Song finished reading, he and such people as Elder Wu and Elder Xi glowered at Elder Xu simultaneously. Bai Shijing said: ‘This urgent report by Brother Yi Dabiao arrived in time. Too bad we didn’t open and read it in time. Fortunately all brothers only suffered a terror and no one was injured. Chief, we all apologize. Alas, really, needless to say, you’re very noble and righteous.’

Elder Wu said: ‘Chief, when you just left, everyone was instantly caught in this situation. If you and Mr Murong hadn’t come and rescued us in time, the whole Beggar Society would’ve been wiped out. If you don’t return to take charge of important matters and to be our Chief, that won’t work.’ Qiao Feng said in surprise: ‘What Mr Murong?’ Elder Wu said: ‘People like Quan Guanqing talk nonsense, please don’t listen to him. What’s wrong with making friends? I believe that you and Mr Murong have only known each other since today.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Mr Murong? Do you mean Murong Fu? I’ve never seen him.’

Elder Xu and the four Elders Song, Xi, Chen and Wu looked blankly at each other. All of them were nonplussed and thought: ‘Just a moment ago you and Mr Murong hand in hand came in and detoxified everyone. Why at this moment do you suddenly say you don’t know Mr Murong?’ After thinking for a short while Elder Xi suddenly understood and said: ‘Ah, that’s right, just now that young master claimed that his compound surname was Murong, but he didn’t say that he was Murong Fu at all. There’re countless people with the compound surname ‘Murong’ in the world, what’s so strange about that?’ Elder Chen said: ‘But he himself wrote ‘Paying Him Back, Using His Own Methods’ on the wall. If he wasn’t Murong Fu then who was he?’

All of a sudden there was a strange voice: ‘That bratty young master could use all kinds of martial arts, moreover his skills were even better than those of the original owners, how come he wasn’t Murong Fu? Of course it was him! It was definitely him!’ Everyone looked at the speaker and saw that he had eyes which looked like those of a rat, a short beard and a sallow face. He was South Sea Divine Alligator. After being poisoned he had been tied up, but he could not help interrupting and putting in his opinion.

Qiao Feng asked in surprise: ‘So Murong Fu came here?’ South Sea Divine Alligator said furiously: ‘You’re talking your mother’s stinking farts! Just now you and Murong Fu came here hand in hand then played some goddamn stealthy trick, using anesthetic to make your father go numb. You quickly let me go, otherwise, humph! Humph humph…’ He uttered several ‘humph humph’ sounds in succession, but as for what would happen ‘otherwise’, he could not say it. After pondering, he merely uttered ‘humph humph’ sounds.

Qiao Feng said: ‘I see that you’re also an expert in wulin, why are you talking nonsense like this? When did I ever come here? Stuff like I and Murong Fu came here hand in hand is extremely ridiculous.’

South Sea Divine Alligator gasped with anger and shouted: ‘Qiao Feng, fvck you Qiao Feng. What a shame that despite being a Chief of the Beggar Society you dare to tell this brazen lie! My big and little fellows, Qiao Feng came here just now, didn’t him? Didn’t our General invite him to sit at the top and to drink tea?’ The Western Xia people all said: ‘Yes, Murong Fu performed the ‘Wave Treading Exquisite Steps’, Qiao Feng stood on a side and applauded, how come this was fake?’

Elder Wu pulled Qiao Feng’s sleeve and said in a low voice: ‘Chief, straightforward men don’t do sneaky things. What happened just now can’t be denied.’ Qiao Feng forced a smile and said: ‘Fourth brother Wu, don’t tell me that just a moment ago you also saw me coming here?’ Elder Wu passed the small porcelain bottle containing the antidote to him and said: ‘Chief, I return the bottle to you, maybe it’ll still be useful in the future.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Return to me? Why return it to me?’ Elder Wu said: ‘You gave me this antidote just a moment ago, have you forgotten?’ Qiao Feng said: ‘What? Fourth brother Wu, you really saw me just now?’ Seeing him continuously denying, Elder Wu felt both unhappy and uneasy.

Even though Qiao Feng was smart and capable, how could he guess that someone had disguised as himself and just a short while ago had come to Tianning Temple and rescued everybody? He thought that there was certainly an important conspiracy concealed in this matter. As straightforward people, both Elder Wu and Elder Song definitely could not do anything that was despicable, but the schemer who had been toying with him had dangerous plots. They could have set things up appropriately to make his own conduct and deeds appeared to be absurd and wicked in all respects in everyone’s eyes.

Being saved by him, at first everyone in the Beggar Society had felt grateful for that, but now hearing him absolutely deny doing so, they were greatly amazed. Some people thought that for the past several days he had encountered a lot of unforeseen events, as a result his mind was in confusion; some thought that he had really made use of Murong Fu and killed Ma Dayuan, now fearing his evil scheme would be exposed, he bluntly insistently denied that he knew that man with the Murong surname; some thought that he had been conspiring to be the Chief of the Beggar Society again and was setting up some stratagem; there were even more people resolutely believing that he was exerting himself for Khitan by both opposing Western Xia and causing trouble to Great Song. Everyone had a different guess therefore there were all kinds of expressions on the faces of the beggars such as sorry, respectful, grieved, scornful and hostile.

Qiao Feng let out a deep sigh and said: ‘Everybody has escaped from dangers so Qiao Feng is leaving now.’ As he finished saying he cupped his fist in his hand, turned around and got on the horse. Raising the whip, he galloped away.

Suddenly he heard Elder Xu shout: ‘Qiao Feng, leave the Dog Beating Stick behind.’ Qiao Feng abruptly reined the horse and said: ‘The Dog Beating Stick? In the apricot forest didn’t I already hand it over?’ Elder Xu said: ‘We slipped up and was captured so the Dog Beating Stick fell into the hands of the Western Xia bastards. Now we have ransacked everywhere but still can’t find it. Most prolly you’ve taken it.’

Qiao Feng turned his face skywards and let out a stream of laughs, which sounded sorrowful and disappointed, then said loudly: ‘I, Qiao Feng, and the Beggar Society no longer have any connection with each other, what do I take the Dog Beating Stick for? Elder Xu, you’ve overly undervalued me.’ He gave the horse a nip with his legs. It immediately galloped towards the north with its four hooves looking like flying.

When Qiao Feng had been a child he had been loved and raised by his parents. Later, he had been taught martial arts by a Shaolin monk Xuan Ku dashi (dashi = great monk, an honorific title for monks), then he had acknowledged Chief Wang of the Beggar Society as his master. When going in jianghu, even though he had experienced a lot of hardships and dangers, his masters and friends had invariably treated him with genuine sincerity. But for the past two days, a storm had suddenly taken place in the world. A Chief who had all along been renowned, illustrious, sincere, benevolent and righteous was unexpectedly regarded as a traitor to the country who harmed the people, and as a shameless untrustworthy scoundrel. He let the horse go aimlessly as it pleased. His mind was extremely confused: ‘If I’m really a Khitan, for the past ten years I’ve killed not just a few Khitan people and ruined not just a few Khitan schemes, how come I’m not a greatly disloyal man? If my parents were really killed by Han people outside of Yanmen Pass, as I’ve regarded the murder of my parents as master and for the past thirty years called other people father and mother, how come I’m not a greatly unfilial son? Qiao Feng ah Qiao Feng, you’re this disloyal and unfilial, how do you dare to live in the world? If Sir Sanhuai isn’t my father then I’m certainly not Qiao Feng either? What’s my surname? What’s the first name that my natural father gave me? Ha-ha, not only am I disloyal and unfilial, but I also don’t have first name and surname.’

He also had another thought: ‘However, maybe all of these are due to a very treacherous arch-villain framing me. I, Qiao Feng, am confidently a dazhangfu (t/n: basically means a man of resolve or success), but I’ve been manipulated by others to the point that my reputation has totally been lost and can’t be redeemed. If I packed up and left my responsibilities at this point because of the temporary indignation and from now on became indifferent to the Beggar Society, wouldn’t that make the villain’s scheme successful? Hum, all in all, I must investigate and make things clear.’

In his mind he planned, the first step was returning to Mt Shaoshi in Henan and asking Sir Sanhuai about my own life and origin, the second step would be entering Shaolin Monastery, visiting my first martial arts enshi (kind master) Xuan Ku dashi and begging him to reveal the truth, these two people had always cherished me very much so they definitely would not hold back anything.

After planning like that he did not feel worried anymore. In the past, as the Chief of the Beggar Society, he had been able to consider the whole country his home when travelling in jianghu. Now, not only could he not go to the branches everywhere for accommodation, in order to avoid causing troubles, wherever he went he did not use roads so that he would not meet former subordinates in the Beggar Society. After going for just two days, the money on his body had been used up therefore he had to sell the horse that he had seized from the Western Xia people for travelling expenses.

One day, he arrived at the foot of Mt Song then went towards Mt Shaoshi. This was the place where he had been staying during his boyhood therefore he was already familiar with the scenery everywhere. Because the Beggar Society was the biggest society in jianghu and Shaolin School was the biggest school in wulin, if the Beggar Society’s Chief came to Shaolin, this would bring about all kinds of formalities and extravagances and disturb a great deal of people. Hence ever since he had taken up the post of the Beggar Society’s Chief, he had never returned here. Every year he had only sent people to respectfully give his parents and enshi food and clothing, and to inquire after them. At this moment, when he was returning to his old land, thinking that his own origin was very enigmatic and that in two or four hours it would be made clear, even though he was a calm and stable man, he could not refrain from getting anxious.

His old home was located beside a mountain slope on the south side of Mt Shaoshi. Qiao Feng quickly went around the mountain slope. He only saw that there were a straw hat and a teapot put under the big jujube tree beside the vegetable garden. The handle of the teapot had already been broken. Qiao Feng knew that it belonged to his father Qiao Sanhuai. He suddenly felt a burst of warm thoughts in his heart: ‘Dad is diligent and thrifty, this broken teapot has been used for several decades but he’s still unwilling to throw it away.’

As he looked at the big jujube tree he also recalled that in his childhood every time jujubes had been ripe father had always held his small hand then knocked jujubes from the tree together with him. The red ripe jujubes had been so plump that their skin had been cracked. They had been both sweet and juicy. Ever since he had left his old land, he had never tasted such delicious jujubes again. Qiao Feng thought: ‘Even if they aren’t my real parents, in this life, it’s hard for me to repay this kindness of nurturing. No matter what my real origin is, I definitely won’t change what I’ve addressed them as.’

He went to and stopped before the three-room earthen house, only seeing a bamboo mat on which there were full of vegetables spread for sunning outside of it and a mother hen which was leading a flock of chicks pecking food in the grass. He could not help beaming: ‘Tonight mom will surely kill chicken and prepare a meal to treat the son that she hasn’t seen for a long time.’ He called out: ‘Dad! Mom! This son has returned.’

He called a few times but did not hear any reply. He thought: ‘Ah, that’s right, the two oldsters’ ears have been deaf and can’t hear.’ He pushed the door open and strode into the house. Inside the main room, such things as wooden table, wooden bench, plow, harrow and hoe did not look very different than they had been when he had left home, but he saw no one.

Qiao Feng called several more times: ‘Dad! Mom!’, but still, he did not hear any reply. He felt a bit surprised and talked to himself: ‘Where have they gone?’ When he stuck his head in the bedroom, he could not help jumping out of his skin because he saw Qiao Sanhuai and his wife lying motionlessly on the ground.

Qiao Feng hurriedly jumped into the room. First he helped his mother sit up only to find that her breathing had already stopped, but her body was still a little bit warm, obviously she had been dead for less than two hours. Next, when he carried his father, he noticed the same things. Being both panicky and grieved, Qiao Feng carried the corpse of his father and ran out of the house. After examining it carefully in the sunshine, he discovered that all the ribs in his chest had been broken. It was clear that he had been stricken dead by the palm force of a martial arts expert. He looked at the corpse of his mother again and found that she had died in the same way. Qiao Feng was confused: ‘My dad and mom are faithful generous honest peasants. Why could some martial arts expert use such a cruel means to murder them? Certainly it was because of me.’

He examined carefully the three rooms inside the house, as well as the area in front of it, the area behind it, and the roof to know what kind of man the murderer was. But the murderer did not leave behind even a single footprint. Qiao Feng’s face was covered with tears. The more he thought, the sadder he became. He could not help bursting out crying.

When he had cried for just a short while, suddenly he heard someone say at his back: ‘What a pity, what a pity. We’ve come late by a step.’ Qiao Feng immediately turned around and saw four middle-aged monks dressed in clothes of Shaolin Monastery. Even though Qiao Feng had learned martial arts of Shaolin School, Xuan Ku dashi, the person who had taught him martial arts, had come to his house directly every night to teach him, therefore he did not know any monk of Shaolin Monastery. Now he was feeling miserable, hence even though he had seen the strangers, for the moment it was hard for him to hold back his tears.

A rather tall monk with a completely furious look loudly said: ‘Qiao Feng, you’re really lower than pigs and dogs. Even if Qiao Sanhuai and his wife aren’t your real parents, the kindness of bringing you up for more than ten years is no trivial matter. How could you have the heart to murder them?’ Qiao Feng sobbed: ‘I returned home just a moment ago. Seeing that my parents have been murdered I only wanna find out who the killer is to revenge my parents. Dashi, how could you say so?’ That monk said furiously: ‘The cruel heart of Khitan people is hard to change. You’ve really acted like an animal! You killed your foster parents with your own hands, what a pity we came to help too late. Surnamed Qiao, if you wanna go to Mt Shaoshi to act wildly, you’re still this far short of that.’ As he finished saying, he threw a palm attack towards Qiao Feng’s chest, creating a ‘hu’ sound.

When Qiao Feng was about to dodge, he heard the sound of wind gently moving at his back. He knew that someone was launching a sneak attack at the back. Unwilling to fight these Shaolin monks without clear reasons like this, he made a pressing with his left foot and gently leaped out for one zhang (3.333 m). As expected, a kick of another Shaolin monk missed him and hit the air.

Seeing that he had dodged so easily like this, the four Shaolin monks all had an astonished look on their faces. That tall and big monk scolded: ‘Your martial arts are good. So what? You think that having killed your foster parents you can hide your origin? Too bad you’re a descendant of the evil Khitan race. This has spread in wulin for a long time. Who in jianghu doesn’t know about it? Committing this severe betrayal, you’ve only increased the amount of your sins.’ Another monk scolded: ‘First you killed Ma Dayuan, next you killed Qiao Sanhuai and his w