g happily replied, “That right! Cannot Have No Commandment has joined the Heng-Shan School, and must strictly follow the school’s rules from now on. This is really the good fortune of Wulin.”

Yingying then said loudly, “Everyone heard it; we’ve all come here today to join the Heng-Shan School. If Headmaster Linghu is willing to accept us, then all of us will become the disciples of Heng-Shan School. How can Heng-Shan’s disciples be regarded as evil?”

Suddenly, a flash of comprehension went through Linghu Chong. “So Yingying knew that I’d be embarrassed to be the headmaster of a group of female disciples. If there were a lot of male members in the school, then no one would be able to ridicule me. That’s why she told all these people to join Heng-Shan School.” He quickly asked in a clear voice, “Martial sister Yihe, is there any school rule that prohibit the school from accepting male disciples?”

Yihe replied, “There’s no rule that prohibits accepting male disciples into the school, but… but…” Temporarily, she couldn’t get her mind to work. She thought that it was inappropriate for so many male disciples to be suddenly in the school.

Linghu Chong said, “It’s very good that everyone wants to join the Heng-Shan School. But there’s no need to pay your respect. Heng-Shan School will arrange another… hmmm… a ‘Heng-Shan Other Courtyard’ for everybody to settle in. That Tong Yuan valley over there is a good place for that.”

The Tong Yuan valley was situated besides the Xianxing Peak. According to the stories, during the Tang dynasty, Zhang Guolao meditated there to become a deity. There was also a big rock on Heng-Shan with a lot of donkey hoof marks on it, and the stories say these hoof marks were made by the donkey ridden by Zhang Guolao. These donkey’s hoof marks were imprinted deeply in granite; if this were not done by a deity then how could it have been done? Emperor Tang Xuanzong gave the title of ‘Mr. Tong Yuan’ to Zhang Guolao. The name of Tong Yuan Valley was taken from this. Tong Yuan Valley was not far from Xianxing Peak, which was where the convent was located. But from the valley to the peak, the mountain path was dangerous. Linghu Chong arranged the living quarters for these Jianghu heroes at Tong Yuan Valley so that there would be separation between males and females so as to avoid slanders.

Fangzheng nodded his head and said, “That’s very good. These friends are joining the Heng-Shan School and agreed to abide by Heng-Shan School’s terms. This is really a joyful occasion in Wulin.”

Yue Hou realised that his opponents had increased in numbers when he saw Great Master Fangzheng talking like this. It seemed that today he would not be able to stop Linghu Chong from becoming the headmaster of Heng-Shan School. So he proceeded to convey Zuo Lengchan’s second task.

He coughed to gain attention and said in a clear voice, “Five Mountains Sword Schools Chief Zuo has an order: on the fifteenth of the third month, all five mountains sword schools must send their disciples to Songshan to elect the headmaster of the Five Mountains School. Everyone must attend and must arrive on time.”

Linghu Chong asked, “Whose idea is it to combine the five mountains sword schools into one?”

Yue Hou answered, “Songshan, Taishan, Huashan, and Hengshan Schools have all approved of this. If your Heng-Shan School objected to this, then you would be openly making things difficult for the other four schools, and you’ll only be asking for trouble.” He then turned around towards the Taishan School’s disciples and asked, “Do you not think that this is the truth?” The tens of people standing behind him answered together, “That’s right!”

Yue Hou laughed coldly and turned around to leave. After a few steps, he turned his head around to look at Yingying. He thought, “How do I get back those five command flags?”

Blue Phoenix laughed, “Teacher Yue, now that you’ve lost these flags, how can you return to Headmaster Zuo? It’d be better if I return it to you!” After she said this, she tossed a flag at him.

When Yue Hou saw the little flag flying towards him, he thought, “This is your Five Poison flag, not the Five Mountains command flag, why would I want it?” However, the flag had almost reached his throat so he quickly extended his hand to catch it. As soon as he caught it, he suddenly called out loudly and hastily dropped the flag. His palm felt like it was on fire. He turned his palm over to take a look and saw his palm had turned purple. He realized that there was poison on the pole of the flag and he had been trapped by the Five Fairies Sect. Feeling alarmed and angry, he angrily scolded, “Witch…”

Blue Phoenix laughingly said, “You call ‘Headmaster Linghu’ and ask for his help, then I’ll give you the medicine. Otherwise, your whole palm would rot.”

Yue Hou knew of the severity of the Five Fairies Sect’s poison. In his hesitation, he felt his palm getting numb and losing feeling. His whole lifetime’s martial art was in his two palms. If his two palms were to rot then he would become a cripple. This made him frightened with worries. He quickly called out, “Headmaster Linghu, you… ”

Blue Phoenix laughed and interrupted him, “Ask for help.”

“Headmaster Linghu, I offended you, I ask… ask you to please give me the med… medicine.”

Linghu Chong smiled and replied, “Lady Blue, brother Yue was only doing what Headmaster Zuo ordered. Please give him the medicine.”

Blue Phoenix laughed and waved her hand towards a Miao girl standing besides her. That Miao girl took a packet out from her bosom, walked forward a few steps, and tossed that packet to Yue Hou. Yue Hou grabbed the packet in a hurry and the crowd erupted in laughter. He quickly walked down the mountain followed by his people.

Linghu Chong announced in a clear voice, “Friends, since you all agreed to reside at Heng-Shan’s Other Courtyard; you must all comply with the school’s commandments. These commandments are actually not hard to follow, but the fifth commandment of never making friends with evils is a bit troublesome. But from today onwards, everyone has become Heng-Shan School member, and since Heng-Shan School’s disciples are naturally not evil, you must take care in making friends when you’re outside the school.” The crowd boomed their acknowledgement.

Linghu Chong went on, “You can still drink wine and eat meat, but from now on, anyone who’s not a vegetarian cannot come to the Xianxing Peak anymore.”

Fangzheng cupped his hand and said, “Good, good! You must never desecrate the sacred ground of Buddha.”

Linghu Chong laughed. “Alright, just regard that I’ve now become headmaster. Everyone’s belly must be feeling hungry now, quickly get the vegetarian dishes out. I’ll accompany Shaolin’s Abbot, Wudang’s Headmaster and all the other seniors in eating. I’ll drink wine with everyone else tomorrow.”

After they finished eating, Fangzheng said, “Headmaster Linghu, old monk and Chongxu have a few words to discuss with Headmaster.”

“Yes,” Linghu Chong answered. He thought in his heart, “The headmasters of the current top two schools in Wulin came to Heng-Shan today. They certainly have something important to say. With dragons and snakes mixing together on top of Xianxiang Peak, no matter where we speak, it’s unavoidable that walls will have ears.”

He immediately ordered Yihe, Yiqing and the other disciples to entertain the guests. Then he turned towards Fangzheng and Chongxu and said, “Down at the back of this mountain, there’s a mountain besides the Porcelain Oven Pass which is called Mount Cui Ping. This mountain has a mirror-like cliff and on top of it, there’s a Hanging Temple. This is the panorama unique to Heng-Shan. If the two seniors are interested, please allow Junior to lead you there.”

Priest Chongxu happily answered, “I’ve long heard that the Hanging Temple on Mount Cui Ping was built around the Northern Song dynasty. Pines trees can’t grow there and not even monkeys can climb up there. Someone had really exerted a lot of effort in building a temple in the clouds. That’s really a marvel in this world; I’ve admired it for a long time already and would really like to see it.”