Linghu Chong was alarmed to suddenly hear someone calling his own name on a desolated mountaintop in the middle of the night. His first thought was, “It’s master!” But it was the voice of a female and it wasn’t master-wife or Yue Lingshan. This outburst was followed by a softer and quieter female’s voice, which he could not hear clearly. Linghu Chong went towards the hillside and saw the shadows of thirty-four people standing up. His heart turned sour. “Who scolded me? Is it really HuaShan School’s party? If martial sister heard someone scolded me like that, I wonder how she would react?”

He lowered his body to hide beside a shrub on the side. He crouched and circled around the hillside to get closer to the group and hid himself behind a big tree. He heard a female’s voice said, “Martial uncle, Martial brother Linghu is an upright and heroic… ” Hearing this half sentence, the picture of a delicately pretty face came into his mind. His chest became slightly constricted as he realised that the person saying this was Yilin, the little nun from Heng-shan school. He was disappointed to learn that these people were not from Huashan School. As his mind was somewhere else, he missed the next two sentences said by Yilin. He only heard the sharp voice of the previous speaker saying angrily, “You still dare to argue with your elder? Then that letter from Mr. Yue of Huashan School is fake? Mr. Yue sent this letter to the entire realm, telling everyone that Linghu Chong had been expelled from HuaShan because he’s involved with Devil Sect’s people. What wrong can we do to him? When Linghu Chong saved you before, he probably wants to depend on this small favour to plot against us…”

“Martial uncle, it wasn’t a small favor, Martial brother Linghu disregarded his own life… ” answered Yilin.

“You’re still calling him martial brother? This person is most probably a shrewd and wicked scheming thief. Putting on airs and deceiving young children like you. In Jiang Hu, there are all sorts of sly and crafty people, swindling young people like you because you have never experienced meeting them,” the elder shouted in reply.

Yilin answered, “How can disciple not listen to martial uncle’s order? But.. but.. martial… Linghu … ” and the word “brother” wasn’t said. She stiffly stood there enduring the lecture.

That elder asked, “But what?” Yilin appeared to be frightened and didn’t dare to speak anymore.

“This is a message from SongShan’s Alliance Chief Zuo. Devil Sect is conducting a large-scale operation in Fujian to rob the Lin family of Fuzhou of their Evil Resisting sword art. Alliance Chief Zuo wants the Five Mountains Sword Alliance to help in preventing the demon people from having the sword art manual. When great masters from the Five Mountains Sword Alliance stepped in, it is unavoidable that people will die without being buried. That child from FuZhou’s Lin family has already entered Mr. Yue’s school so it seemed that HuaShan School has obtained the sword art manual but actually they have not. We fear that the Devil Sect will have many traps. Also, when you add that ex-disciple of Huashan School, Linghu Chong, into the equation, our plight becomes even more unfavourable because the Devil sect may have inside information. Alliance Chief has put the responsibility of handling this matter on my shoulder and ordered me to lead us into Fujian. This matter concerns the fortune of both the orthodox and Devil Sect. We can’t allow any careless or indiscreet acts. Thirty li from here is the border between Zhejiang and Fujian. Today, everyone has worked hard and had been hurrying along at night. We’ll rest when we get to Nianbapu town. We’ll then hurry along so we can be in front and wait for the Devil Sect people to launch their operation. By then, we would have waited at ease and have the advantage of waiting for an exhausted enemy. But you must still be on your guard,” that elder announced. All the female disciples (numbering in scores of ten) complied with one voice.

Linghu Chong thought, “This master is in charge of this Heng-Shan School group and Yilin also called her martial uncle. I’ve heard of “Three Ding of Heng-Shan”, she must be Dingjing Shi Tai. She received my master’s letter and thought that I’m a bad person. I can’t blame her for thinking this way. She wanted to get ahead but didn’t know that Devil Sect people are already setting up an ambush in front. Luckily, I already knew, but how do I tell them about this?”

(Translator’s note: Shi Tai means a nun who is already old but it can also be a title to a nun who holds a high position in the temple. For lack of a better word in English, I’m leaving it as Shi Tai.)

He then heard Dingjing Shi Tai said, “Once we enter Fujian’s boundary, you must be on your guard. Everyone around you will be your enemy. Even the servants from the restaurants or the teahouses might be spies from the Devil Sect. The walls have ears, just like the bushes might have enemy hiding within. From now on, do not mention anything about the Evil Resisting sword art manual, Mr. Yue, Linghu Chong, and DongFang BiBai.” (Translator’s note: DongFang BiBai means DongFang is defeated, whereas his original name DongFang BuBai means DongFang undefeated.)

The female disciples answered together, “Yes!”

Linghu Chong knew that Devil Sect’s Chief DongFang BuBai’s kungfu had no match in the world, which was why he was called undefeated. But when the orthodox schools talked about him, they frequently referred to him as “Bibai”. They did this to nullify the meaning behind the enemy’s name and to mock him. After hearing her mentioned his own name, his master’s name and DongFang BuBai’s on the same level, he couldn’t help but laughed bitterly. “I’m just a nameless person while you’re a senior from Heng-Shan School. You flatter me too much to mention my name in the same breath as my master’s and Dongfang Bubai’s.”

Dingjing Shi Tai continued, “Everyone, let’s go!” All the disciples answered in one voice and complied with the order. He then saw seven female disciples sped away from the hillside followed by another seven soon after. Heng-Shan School’s qinggong was famous in the wulin world; the seven people in front and the seven people at the back kept the distance between them constant as they run, resembling a troop formation The sleeves of the fourteen people were floating in the air and they were all synchronous in their running. It was extremely beautiful to look at. Not too long after that, another seven people started to go down the hill. In a short time, all of Heng-Shan School’s groups have moved out. Altogether, there were six groups. The last group consisted of eight people, with the extra person being Dingjing Shi Tai. Some of these females were not nuns, but secular disciples of Heng-Shan.

In the darkness of the night, Linghu Chong wasn’t able to recognise which group Yilin was in. He thought, “These disciples from Heng-Shan must each have their own unique skill. But when they’re climbing that steep slope between the two peaks, the Devil Sect people will ambush them. They will definitely suffer heavy injuries and deaths.”

He took a handful of green grass, squeezed them and smeared the juices on his face. Then he dug out some mud and smeared it on his face, hands and thick beard. Even if it were daytime, Yilin would not be able to recognise him under all the mud. Linghu Chong then circled the hillside to go back to the road and started chasing after them. Originally, his qinggong wasn’t that good. But whether your qinggong was high or low was dependent on the strength of your internal energy level. Right now, his internal energy was high, so he could take a step as he willed and each step was also very far away. At this speed, he caught up with Heng-Shan School’s people in no time at all. He was afraid that Dingjing Shi Tai might hear his footsteps as he came closer to them so he overtook them by running in a big circle. Once he was ahead of them and was back on the main road, he ran even faster. When he arrived at the bottom of the slope, the moon was already above his head. He stood there listening to his surrounding and did not hear a single sound. “If I didn’t see the Devil Sect people setting up an ambush here, then a disaster would have happened at this place. A great disaster.”

He slowly walked up the steep slope and arrived at the beginning of the road between the two peaks. He was around a li away from the ambush place; he sat down and started thinking, “The Devil Sect people have probably seen me here. But they’re afraid to alert the enemy so they are just letting me sit here.” After waiting for some time, he lied down on the ground. Finally, he heard faint steps coming up from the hillside. He thought, “It’s best if I lead the Devil Sect’s people to start fighting with me first. After fighting for a little bit, then Heng-Shan School will be aware.” He then said angrily at the people on the top of the slope, ” What old man hates the most is being stabbed in the back. Then I won’t know whether they are real swords or spears. Stabbing in the back is a very rotten method. You hiding there, get up! Evil ghosts, harming people by ambush! How contemptible and disgraceful.” Although his voice wasn’t loud, he had put an abundant of qi to deliver it, so it was able to travel far. He was guessing that the Devil Sect people had heard what he said. But who would have thought these people could really hold in their anger and unexpectedly did not pay attention to him at all. Not long after, Heng-Shan School’s first group of seven diciples arrived in front of him.

Under the moonlight, the seven diciples could see an officer sleeping on the ground with his four limbs extended out. Only one person at a time can go up the mountain pass as it was flanked by high cliffs on both sides. Therefore, if they wanted to go up the slope, they have to step across his body first. These disciples only had to lightly jump to go across his body, but between man and woman, there must be a separation. In order to jump across, they also have to go over his head. This was just too rude.

A middle-aged nun said with a clear voice, “Excuse me, officer. Please lend us a path.”

Linghu Chong made two “woo, woo” sounds snoring loudly. That nun’s buddhist name was Yihe but her temper was not peaceful at all (Translator’s note: play of words on her name). She saw that this officer was sleeping soundly in the middle of the road snoring so loudly that he must be deliberately pretending to be asleep. This made her all the more agitated. She held back her anger and said, “If you don’t make way, we will jump over you.” Linghu Chong kept up his loud snoring and muttered, ” Lots of demons and ghosts on this road. Mustn’t go through it. Woo… woo… the sea of bitterness is endless… turn… turn… turn around then you will see the beach.” Yihe was startled when she heard this as his words seemed to carry two meanings. Another nun pulled Yihe back by tugging her sleeve and the seven nuns retreated several steps.

One person whispered, “Martial sister, this person is weird.”

Another one said, “I’m afraid he might be Devil Sect’s spy challenging us.”

Another person said, “I don’t think Devil Sect’s people would go and get a government job as a military officer. I think he’s disguising himself. He didn’t dirty his attire when he was disguising himself.”

Yihe said, “Don’t worry about him! He’s not letting us get through so we’ll jump over him.”

Before she jumped, she asked again, “If you’re really not making way then we just have to offend you.”

Linghu Chong stretched out lazily and slowly got up. He was still afraid that Yilin might recognise him so he faced the hillside. The back of his body was facing the Heng-Shan School disciples. With his right hand leaning on the cliff face, his body swayed from side to side looking like a drunk. He said, “Good wine! good wine!” At this moment, the second group of Heng-Shan School disciples arrived.

“Martial sister Yihe, what’s this person doing here?” asked a secular disciple.

“Who knows what he’s doing here!” answered Yihe.

Linghu Chong said in a loud voice, “Just then I butchered a dog. My tummy’s so full after eating it. I’ve also drunk a lot of wine. I’m afraid I might vomit. Aiyo, not good, really gonna vomit!” A vomiting sound was heard briefly.

The female disciples scowled and one by one retreated back. Linghu Chong made the vomiting sound a few more times although nothing was coming out. The disciples were discussing among themselves when the third group also arrived.

He heard a soft voice said, “This person is drunk, he’s very pitiful. Let him rest, we can’t be delayed.”

When Linghu Chong heard this voice, his heart fluttered. He thought, “Martial sister Yilin has a very good heart.”

But Yihe said, “This person is deliberately making a fuss here, he must have some bad intention!” She then took a step forward and shouted, “Make way!” While she pushed Linghu Chong’s left shoulder. Linghu Chong swayed forward and shouted, “Aiyo, this is disastrous!” He took a few stumbling steps up the slope, staggering from side to side. After walking a few steps, the situation had become even more awkward. His body was now filling in the narrow pass completely. If it were not for the inappropriateness, the people behind him would have jumped over his head to get pass. Yihe went forward and shouted, “Make way already!”

“Yes, yes,” answered Linghu Chong. He took a few more steps up. He got even higher as he moved forward making the narrow pass even more difficult to pass. Suddenly he shouted very loudly, “Hello, friends above waiting to ambush, pay attention please! The people you’re waiting for have arrived. You guys should come out now, no one here would be able to escape.”

When Yihe and the other disciples heard of this, they immediately retreated back. One disciple said, “This place is really dangerous, if the enemy ambush us now, we’ll have great difficulty in fighting back.” Yihe said, “If there’s someone waiting to ambush us, why is he calling them out? It’s just empty threat, empty threat. There’s nobody up there. If we retreat in fear, the enemy will laugh at us.” Another two middle-aged nun said together, “Yeah! We three people will make way in front, martial sisters follow behind us.” The three nuns pulled their long swords out and went forward towards Linghu Chong’s back.

Linghu Chong continuously panted loudly and said, “This hillside road is very steep. Ai, old man is very old now. I can’t go further.”

One of the nuns said, “Hey, you go to one side and let us walk ahead first, is this ok?”

“Don’t get angry. Walking fast will get us there, walking slow will also get us there. Hai.. Hai.. Ai, when going towards the gates of Hell, it is better to go slowly.”

That nun said, “Why are you beating around the bush trying to scold people?”

With a shout, Yihe thrust her sword towards Linghu Chong’s heart from behind. This thrust was only meant to scare him into making way for them. So when the sword was about to pierce his body, it stopped short. At this exact moment, Linghu Chong also turned his body around. He saw that the tip of the sword was pointed at his chest and shouted, “Hey! You… you… what are you doing? I’m a government official. Didn’t expect that you dare to be this rude. Come people, seize these nuns!”

Some of the younger nuns couldn’t help to hold in their laughter anymore. This person was on a desolated mountainside but was still exhibiting a bureaucratic air. It was really comical.

A nun laughingly said, “Officer, we have an urgent matter and are hurrying along. Please move to a side and let us through.”

“What officer, I’m a general. You should call me general. Then I’ll let you through,” said Linghu Chong.

Seven to eight female disciples laughingly said, “General, please make way.”

Linghu Chong laughed and straightened up. He puffed up his chest and tucked in his stomach, looking arrogant. Suddenly, he slipped and fell on the ground. The female disciples squealed and called out in alarm, “Be careful.” And two of them quickly held onto his arms. Linghu Chong slipped one more time before he stood firm. He then scolded, “His granny…. this ground is so slippery. The local government is a bucket of rice, unlike those common people (Translator’s note: “a bucket of rice” means good for nothing). They should keep the mountain road in good condition.” He had already slipped twice and now he leaned his body against a small depression on the cliff wall. Heng-Shan School’s disciples quickly used their qinggong to go through. One by one, they went pass him swiftly.

One of them laughed, “The local government will send eight people with a sedan chair to carry general over this mountain range. That’s the way to do it.”

Another one said, “General rides a horse not a sedan chair.”

The next one said, “This general is different than the others. When riding a horse, he’s afraid that he might fall down on the ground.”

Linghu Chong indignantly said, “Nonsense! How many times have I fallen down from riding a horse? Last month, that horse was scared to death by a tiger. Only then did I slid from the horse’s back and injured my upper arm. So that one cannot be counted.” The disciples laughed aloud while climbing the slope like wind.

Linghu Chong saw a slender body shook. It was Yilin. He immediately followed behind her, again blocking the disciples behind her. His steps were heavy and he was also panting heavily. For every three steps, he slipped two steps. He was climbing and falling at the same time. Fortunately, he was actually walking quite quickly. The disciples behind were laughing and complaining at the same time. “You, general, is really… cough. Don’t know how many times must you fall down in a day!”

Yilin turned her head and said, “Martial sister Yiqing, don’t rush general. He’s already trying to hurry, don’t make him slip for real. This slope is really steep, falling down would be serious.”

Linghu Chong saw her two big eyes. They were clear and bright like two clear fountains. Her elegant face shone under the moonlight looking very beautiful. He remembered the day when they were evading the pursuit of Qingcheng School. She carried him out from inside the city of Hengshan and he was staring at her right now just like he did at that time. Suddenly, he felt a soft and gentle feeling rising up in his heart. He thought, “At the top of this slope, there are many concealed enemies wanting to harm her. I don’t care about my life but I must protect her and make sure she is safe.”

Yilin saw his two eyes looking dull and his appearance ugly. She nodded slightly at him, revealing a warm and smiling countenance. She said, “Martial sister Yiqing, if General slipped and fell, you must quickly give him a hand.”

Yiqing laughed, “He’s very heavy, how do I help him?”

Originally, Heng-Shan School’s rules were very strict. These female disciples did not easily chat and laugh with strangers. But Linghu Chong had been acting like a clown making them laugh repeatedly. Also, there were no elders around. As the dark night hurried along and after exchanging some harmless jokes, everyone was feeling livelier.

Linghu Chong indignantly said, “You girls are speaking without knowing what you’re talking about. I’m a great general. Back in those days, in the battlefield, I routed and killed numerous thieves. The type of killing that makes you shiver with fear that the air around it would even be filled with a shimmering murderous aura. If you girls saw it, hey hey, you will admire me completely. This trivial mountain slope is nothing to look at for me. How can I fall down? You’re talking rubbish… Aiyo, not good!”

His foot seemed to have step on a small stone and he fell down. He put both of his hands out waving them about trying to grab onto something. The disciples behind him yelped in surprise. Yilin quickly turned back and stuck her hand out to help him. Linghu Chong grabbed her hand and Yilin used all her strength to pull him upwards. Linghu Chong was now crouching down with his left hand on the ground supporting himself. He appeared to be very distressed. The disciples behind him were clutching their stomachs laughing loudly.

Linghu Chong said, “My leather boots are too heavy to use for climbing up mountain roads. If I were wearing your hemp shoes, then I guarantee I wouldn’t fall down at all. Also, I’m only slipping and falling, what’s so funny about that?”

Yilin slowly loosened her hand and said, “Yeah. General is wearing riding boots so it’s not comfortable to climb up the mountain.”

“Of course it’s not comfortable. But with my very high prestige, I have to wear these boots. If I were just an ordinary common person like you people then I can wear those hemp shoes without any shame,” said Linghu Chong. After hearing him trying to save face at all cost, the disciples all laughed again.

By now, a few more groups have arrived at the bottom of the slope while the first person who had gone up have reached the top of the slope

Linghu Chong shouted, “This region has the most thieves, stealing chicken and dogs. They don’t care at all if the weather is cold, they’ll still come out to steal our money. Although you buddhists don’t have too much wealth, be careful. Don’t let them steal your hard earned alms money.”

Yiqing giggled and said, “General is here, those thieves wouldn’t dare to show their faces here.”

Linghu Chong answered back, “Hey, hey, be careful. I see some people at the top lurking around.”

One of the female disciples said, “General, you are talking nonsense. With us around you’re still afraid of a few small time thieves?”

Just as she said this, two female disciple suddenly shouted, “Ai yo!” and rolled down the slope.

Two female disciples hastily went up and held them. From the front, a few of the female disciples shouted, “The thieves used some projectiles. Be careful!” As soon as they said this, another disciple rolled down the slope.

Yihe ordered in a loud voice, “Everyone get down! Be careful of projectiles!”

Everyone quickly crouched down while Linghu Chong scolded out loudly, “Bold thieves, you don’t know that General is here?” Yilin was pulling his arm and worriedly implored, “Quickly get down!”

The disciples in front were shooting their metal bead projectiles from inside their sleeves. But the enemies on the hilltop had concealed themselves behind the rocks again. Not one could be seen. So their projectiles did not find their targets. Dingjing Shi Tai rushed forward when she heard that there was enemy at the top. She was jumping over the disciples’ head to get ahead. When she arrived behind Linghu Chong, she also jumped over his head and kept going forward.

Linghu Chong called out, “This is bad luck! Bad luck!” and spat out some saliva (Translator’s note: It’s bad luck for someone to jump over your head). He saw Dingjing Shi Tai waving her big sleeve around as she charged towards the hilltop. She was met by a rain of the enemy’s projectiles. Some of the projectiles were trapped while some were knocked away flying by her sleeves.

Dingjing Shi Tai jumped a few more times and reached the top of the slope. Before she steadied herself, she felt a strong wind; a copper staff was coming towards her head. Hearing the sound of the staff cutting through the air, she knew that the strike was very heavy so she didn’t dare to parry it. She dodged to the side of the staff, but at the same time saw two spears coming forward. One was aiming high and the other one low making the situation very dangerous. The enemy was holding an advantageous position by blocking the mountain pass with three good fighters. Dingjing Shi Tai shouted, “Shameless!” while pulling out her long sword. Her sword slashed at the two spears and broke them, while the copper staff was swept at her waist. She countered by hitting the top of the staff with her sword to change its direction. Just then, another spear was thrust towards her right shoulder. The female disciples on the slope started to scream in surprise and large crashing sounds were heard. Apparently the enemies on the hilltop were pushing big rocks down the slope. Heng-Shan School’s disciples were crowded in the middle of the pass. They were jumping and crouching to avoid the rocks from hitting them, but soon after some of them was hit and got injured.

Dingjing Shi Tai retreated back two steps and ordered, “Everyone turn back! Go back down the hill and regroup!”

She wielded her sword to prevent the enemy from going down but the enemy still managed to continuously toss more rocks down the slope. Then she heard the sounds of fighting coming from below. Apparently, enemies were also waiting for them at the bottom of the slope to prevent them from retreating.

Someone shouted from below, “Martial uncle, the martial art of the enemies cutting off our escape are strong. We can’t go down.”

Another one shouted, “Two martial sisters are injured.”

Dingjing Shi Tai angrily flew down. She saw two men wielding sabres preventing two disciples at the back from retreating down the hill. Dingjing Shi Tai cried out and attacked using her sword. Suddenly she heard two “hu, hu” sounds; two small hammers connected by a long chain were flying down vertically attacking the front of her body. Dingjing Shi Tai lifted her sword to block one of the meteor hammers while the other one went through and almost hit her head. Dingjing Shi Tai was startled, “Great power.” If they were on flat ground, she wouldn’t have used her sword to block the hammer. She would have instead launched an attack from the side. But the mountain pass was too narrow and there was only two ways to go; which was either up or down. The enemy twirled his meteor hammers quickly and the hammers, looking like two black clouds, came hurtling towards Dingjing Shi Tai. Dingjing Shi Tai was unable to use her clever sword art against him so she retreated step-by-step back towards the hilltop.

From above, she heard the cries of the disciples and saw some of them falling down on the ground after being hit by projectiles. Dingjing Shi Tai calmed herself down and thought to herself that the enemies’ martial art were weaker at the hilltop and should be easier to deal with. So she quickly rushed back up and jumped over some of the disciples and also passed over Linghu Chong’s head.

Linghu Chong called out to her, “Aiyo, what are you doing? Do you think you’re jumping over a chicken here? You’re already so old but still joking around, jumping over my head to go here and there. Do you think I can still gamble after this?”

Dingjing Shi Tai was hurrying trying to break through the enemy’s trap so she didn’t hear those words. But Yilin apologised, “Sorry, my martial uncle didn’t do it on purpose.” Linghu Chong grumbled and complained, “I already said earlier that there were thieves here. But none of you believed me.” But in his heart, he was thinking, “I saw earlier that the Devil Sect people were setting up an ambush on the hilltop, but apparently they also have people at the bottom. Even though Heng-Shan School has many people here, they’re all crowded in the middle of this narrow pass. So they can’t display their skills. The situation is not encouraging at all.”

When Dingjing Shi Tai arrived at the hilltop, she suddenly saw the shadow of a stick moving. A Buddhist steel staff was coming towards her head. The enemies have adjusted so that their better skilled people were now fighting her. Dingjing Shi Tai thought, “Today, if I don’t manage to break through this pass, I’m afraid these disciples will be annihilated.” She leaned to one side and thrust her sword out in an angle. The Buddhist staff missed her body by only a few inches. She then shot forward and plunged her sword towards the monk. In making this move, she disregarded her own life, as it was potentially disastrous to both people. That monk tried hard to protect himself but it was too late. He scoffed lightly as the sword pierced the side of his body. But that monk was extremely brave. Uttering a cry, he broke the long sword in two with his fist. His fist was bloodied as it hit the sword.

Dingjing Shi Tai shouted, “Quickly get up here! Give me a sword!”

Yihe flew up and held her sword horizontally. She shouted, “Martial uncle, sword!” Dingjing Shi Tai turned her body around to take the sword. But a spear was thrust slantingly towards Yihe, while another spear was thrust towards Dingjing Shi Tai. Yihe had to use her sword to ward off the attack which allowed the spear wielding person to close in on her bit by bit. This also forced Yihe to retreat back down the slope. With this happening, Yihe wasn’t able to pass the sword to Dingjing Shi Tai. In the mean time, three people charged onto the hilltop, two with sabres and the other one with a judge’s pen, surrounding Dingjing Shi Tai. Dingjing Shi Tai’s two palms were flitting about using Heng-Shan School’s “Tian Zhang Zhang Fa” (Heaven’s Palm) to ward off the attack from the four people. She was already around sixty years old but her hands were still agile. Unexpectedly, she was holding her own using only her bare hands even though the four masters from the Devil Sect were fighting cooperatively against her.

Yilin was frightened and whispered, “Ai yo! What do I do? What do I do?”

Linghu Chong said with a loud voice, “These small time thieves are too unruly. Make way! Make way! General is going up there to capture these thieves!”

Yilin worriedly said, “You mustn’t go! They’re not small time thieves. All of them have good martial art. If you go up there then they’ll kill you.”

Linghu Chong puffed up his chest and shouted boldly, “Under a sunny day… ” He then raised his head up to the sky; it was almost daybreak, but it wasn’t a “sunny day”. But he didn’t care and continued, “These small time thieves are cutting off the road and plund