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After calculating the distance and time, Kou Zhong and Bai Wenyuan decided to rest for half a sichen.

The warriors felt as if they had just been granted an amnesty from the Emperor. The hardship of the all-night travel really need not be mentioned. In a split second they were already sprawled over the entire valley, creating an impressive sight. To let their horses rest more comfortably, they all unloaded the saddle. The officers and soldiers took off their armor, and either sitting or sleeping, they made themselves as comfortable as possible in light garment and simple adornment.

Kou Zhong went to the small brook in the valley to wash his face with the ice-cold water. Scooping up the water, he drank more than a dozen mouthful in one go; he felt extreme delight, free and easy, and satisfaction.

Shang Xiuxun’s graceful, clear and melodious voice suddenly rang out behind him. “Are you or are you not willing to accept the letter, and thus absolving me from this responsibility?” there was a slight anger in her voice.

Kou Zhong simply dipped his head into the water. Shang Xiuxun walked over; grabbing the back of his collar with one hand, she stuffed the letter into his neck with the other.

“Aiyo!” Kou Zhong cried out, stood up and blurted out, “Kong Laofuzi [i.e. Confucius] had said, indecent assault includes touching; some people also said that men and women should touch hands when they give or receive things [this one is actually a citation from Mencius]. Beautiful Changzhu, you disregard all these rules and regulations. Looks like in the future, I, Kou Zhong, will not need to abide by the rules toward you.”

Shang Xiuxun retreated three steps back. With a smile yet not a smile, with anger yet not really angry, she fixed her gaze on him, who was trying to fish the plain yellow letter from the back of his neck in panic, while his head was still dripping wet. Pouting her cute lips, she spoke with disdain, “Since when did a man like you ever abide by the rules? But if you dare not to behave toward me, I will punish you according to the house rules.”

Kou Zhong’s eyes fell onto the letter in his hand; he saw written on the letter was ‘Addressed to Mr. Kou Zhong for your perusal’, six polite, yet maintaining the distance, characters [Kou Zhong xian sheng guan yue], in beautiful calligraphic style. His heart ached, but pretending to be happy, he said, “Turns out Beautiful Changzhu is seeing me as belonging to your family, I just do not know you regard me in which capacity? Plus Changzhu must implement the discipline personally; contrary to what you might expect, this is something that I seek but fail to get. Just now your jade-hands groped my neck, this moving feeling will not be forgotten as long as I live.”

Shang Xiuxun’s pretty face blushed slightly, she spoke fiercely, “If you are babbling nonsense to me again, I will immediately take my men back to the Ranch, and will not pay any more attention you.”

Kou Zhong pondered deeply for half a day, before putting it together with Lu Miaozi’s treasured book inside his oilcloth bundle, which he hid well inside his pocket. Dejectedly he sat on a big boulder by the creek, wiped the traces of water from his face, and pointed to another big rock opposite him, he said, “Why don’t you sit down and have a chat with me?”

As Shang Xiuxun was cheerfully sitting down, Kou Zhong handed a dried ration to her and said with a laugh, “Changzhu, please do me the honor. Your demeanor when eating is the most beautiful sight in the world.”

Shang Xiuxun tore the dried ration he handed her, but her face did not show the slightest bit of displeasure; on the contrary, she asked blissfully, “What do you mean beautiful? Only you can say such thing.”

Kou Zhong already had good understanding of her temperament; although she loved to act aloof and remote, her fragrant heart was actually extremely lonely, dry and withered. After pondering quietly, he replied softly, “When I eat something, I swallow it in one gulp; when my tummy is full, that’s all there is to it. But when Changzhu eats, your expression is extremely adorable; it is brimming with curiosity and seeking-the-hidden-away, exploring-the-mystery look, but there is also the resistance of the desire to gobble up the food quickly. If the delicious food was a culinary delicacy and heavy, your eating posture was even more graceful beyond comprehension, as well as carrying the pure innocence of a little girl. Ay! Are you, or are you not, going to let me watch you eat? Do you want me to feed you? If I can obtain this superior task, it will bring me greater honor than unifying the world. It would be better if you’d just marry me! That way I can prepare some good food that I can serve to you every day.”

Shang Xiuxun laughed like a flower trembling on its stem; she scolded him in anger, “If I have nothing to do, looking for you to relieve boredom will be really good, you are able to talk about anything, and it will appear like a deluge of heavenly flowers [idiom: extravagant embellishments], and will sound really fascinating. What do you mean ‘resistance of the desire to gobble up the food quickly’? At most it’s just like before the battle we must scout the real situation first, before deciding on the advancing or retreating path. There is no such thing as the woman marrying the man; who do you think I am? Dong Ming Princess?”

Seeing her laughing and joking without restraint, plus noticing her absolutely-don’t-care charming attitude, Kou Zhong was greatly delighted; he said, “You have not even left your lady’s chamber for three steps, yet you knew about Dong Ming Pai’s social custom of the woman marrying the man into her family; it could be said that you possess great magical power.”

Clearly Shang Xiuxun was in a high spirit to chat; looking immensely proud of herself, she glowered at him and said, “Don’t you forget that Lu Miaozi favorite pastime was to play chess and chat with my Niang. And Niang loved to recount all kinds of strange things to me the most.”

Kou Zhong’s heart was moved, he said, “In that case, have you ever heard about the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Sects?”

Straightening up her waist, Shang Xiuxun said, “Of course I have.”

Kou Zhong happily said, “I am just gathering information about that; tell me quickly.”

Full of smile, Shang Xiuxun leaned her hazel tree head [I swear, this time it is not cicada; maybe a typo? 榛] sideways, appearing to be pondering over past memories, before saying smoothly, “The conduct of the people from the demonic way is secretive and unfathomable; therefore, only a handful people have any knowledge about this. Even martial art masters who came from the Two Sects and Six Ways of demonic schools would try in thousand ways, a hundred plans, to conceal their origin, lest they provoke those people who consider themselves of the orthodox ways to besiege and attack them.”

Astounded, Kou Zhong asked, “What are the Two Sects and Six Ways?”

Shang Xiuxun replied, “The two sects are Yin Gui Pai and Hua Jian Pai [lit. among the flowers, the title of this chapter] ...”

Stunned, Kou Zhong said, “Hua Jian Pai, this name is fairly pleasant to hear, but I have never heard anybody mentioning it.”

Shang Xiuxun said, “Between the two sects, Yin Gui Pai is always the leader, not because Hua Jian is inferior to Yin Gui, but because in each generation, Hua Jian only has one disciple; therefore, the identity is highly secretive, even people of demonic schools do not know who the descendant of the Hua Jian Pai is.”

Kou Zhong was puzzled, “Supposing this descendant, because his training goes wrong and he pass away, or perhaps he suddenly die in battle, wouldn’t their teaching be cut short? Although this situation is very rare, but over many years, it is bound to happen.”

Shang Xiuxun crossly said, “You always love to call out ironic remark of flaws and loopholes; others naturally have a way to guard against that happening! They have the so-called ‘Hu Pai Zunzhe’ [Protector of the Sect, ‘zunzhe’ simply means ‘honored sir’], with the specific responsibility of preserving the notes, references and manuals that each generation’s disciple writes down based on what he has learned through experience and study, to ensure that Hua Jian Pai’s teaching will not be cut short.”

Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “Wouldn’t that mean that there is more than one disciple per generation? At least there are two. Yet you blamed me for making ironic remark.”

“That is because you just don’t understand the details!” Shang Xiuxun said, “These ‘Hu Pai Zunzhe’ are not Hua Jian Pai’s disciples at all; they are just custodians of Hua Jian Pai’s library. To put it more strictly, they only have to know where those books and records are hidden; moreover, they must be women. It is because Hua Jian Pai’s martial arts are only suitable for men, and not women. If a woman forcibly trained it, there will be unexpected calamity.”

Kou Zhong was listening with eyes open wide and mouth agape. “This Hua Jian Pai is really strange,” he said, “The practitioner must be a lonely, secretive, and peculiarly eccentric person. Oh! Changzhu, you are so beautiful!”

The morning sun was rising behind Shang Xiuxun, framing her in its brilliant light. The effect was like raising her purity to a higher level, showing off her tenderness and beauty that was out of this world, causing Kou Zhong to blurt out in praise.

Shang Xiuxun’s jet-black eyebrows knitted slightly, she said, “Don’t change the subject. It’s not that Hua Jian Pai’s descendants are lonely by nature, rather, they are in pursuit of loneliness, because Hua Jian Pai has a belief, that is, the relationship between people is superfluous and meaningless, which is actually one step further, and has more profound and long-lasting implication than Lao-tze Li Er’s thought of ‘being old and dead, and do not have dealings with each other’.”

Greatly interested, Kou Zhong asked, “Such an extreme thought, yet they took such a romantic name. I wonder if Changzhu know who the disciple of this generation Hua Jian Pai is; could he be one of the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way?”

Shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head, Shang Xiuxun replied, “I already said that even demonic schools’ people do not know for sure, forget about people who are not from demonic school trying to find out who it is. As for the previous generation’s Hua Jian Pai disciple, Lu Miaozi had a guess that it was Shi Zhixuan, whose heart was moved by Bi Xiuxin of Ci Hang Jingzhai, so that he was reluctant to leave this world. None the disciples of the Hua Jian Pai are not elegant, fine gongzi [young master], smart, distinguished and accomplished. Only this way will they soar among the flowers. They use heartless to confront passion, to break the heart of women all over the world. Hey, why does your countenance become this unsightly?”

Taking a deep breath, Kou Zhong said, “I know who the Hua Jian Pai’s disciple of this generation is.”

Xu Ziling and Xuan Yong spurred their horses to inspect the arrangement on the eastern bank of the Zhang River. For the most part, everything was at its final stage, hoping to obtain some time to take a breather before the enemy arrived. The two galloped up a high hill, and looked around as far as the eye can see.

Xuan Yong suddenly asked, “Xu Ye is just at the prime of your life, right at the time when a man would have aspiration to travel far and make his mark in the world; why do you always have the heart to retired? With you helping Shao Shuai, who among the heroes of the world will be able to compete against you two?”

Xu Ziling was enjoying the colorful reflection of the distant mountain on the Zhang River, with dense green forest providing dark shades on both sides of the river. The river looked like an embroidered belt, which a fairy from heaven tossed down onto the earth, meandering north and south, adding unbounded tenderness and affection to the whole wide earth. He sighed and said, “Everybody has different ideals and pursuits. Supposing the warlords contending for hegemony over the world are only Cao Yinglong, Zhu Can, Xiao Xian, Wang Shichong, and those like them, I would definitely fight side-by-side with Kou Zhong to the end. But among the warlords now, there are Liu Heita, Li Shimin, and the others, all are chivalrous heroes. I really do not have the heart to regard them as the enemy. Only because Kou Zhong is my Xiongdi did I let myself to get sucked into the whirlpool of the contention over the world.”

Xuan Yong nodded and said, “Xu Ye’s breadth of mind is indeed different from ordinary men. Liu Heita is certainly a special figure, but Li Shimin is basically not the crown prince. Even if he managed to snatch the crown prince position, he is, after all, a man born of honorable school, big clan; during the struggle over the world, he would salute those who help him to the extreme. But after obtaining the world, wouldn’t he play the-birds-are-over, the-bow-is-put-away game? Being from powerful and wealthy family, how could he understand the plight of the people below him?”

Xu Ziling was silent for half a day. “This kind of thing varies from person to person,” he spoke slowly, “It was not my intention to speak good words on behalf of Li Shimin, I just wanted to be fair. Take Han Gaozu[1] for example; he was an insignificant Tingzhang [ancient official title] from Sishui [county, Jining, Shandong]. After obtaining the world, winning success and recognition, didn’t he bestow the title Wang [king/prince] to the younger generation of the same surname? But he was vicious and merciless toward the kings and marquis of different surname who helped him during the conflict; even Han Xin[2] was not spared from death. Evidently it has nothing to do with class origin.”

And then he smiled and said, “But there is one thing that Xuan Xiong has seen accurately: Kou Zhong is absolutely not the kind of person Liu Bang was.”

Xuan Yong said, “During the Qin and Han era, there was no honorable school, big clan yet. I have been oppressed by the descendants of the rich and powerful. My humble father also suffered false accusations from powerful clan’s people that he died. Were it not for Da Longtou taking me in, and passing on to me some martial art, I, Xuan Yong, would never have seen a day like today.”

Xu Ziling agreed, “Powerful school and influential clan are indeed going on the rampage for a period of time, harming and bringing suffering to many people. Xuan Xiong has the aspiration to help Kou Zhong breaking through the world, it is a wonderful thing. A man born in troubled time, he should go out to create an undertaking.”

Xuan Yong spoke clearly and boldly, “To be buried in a horse hide [i.e. to give one’s life on the battlefield] ought to be considered a glory for a real man. If in my conduct I shrink my head in fear, I would rather be blown up in battle. To be able to follow Shao Shuai, it is indeed the most delightful matter in my life.”

The sun was slowly creeping to its zenith, bathing the whole earth, including the river, mountain and fields, in its glorious light.

Kou Zhong was precisely the morning sun that has just appeared. There would be a day where he would rise to the zenith.

From the back, Shang Xiuxun caught up with Kou Zhong and Bai Wenyuan, who were at the head of the procession; she asked, “According to the hoof print and footprint, the thieves shouldn’t be heading this direction.”

Kou Zhong fell back a little to ride side-by-side with her; he explained, “Because thief Cao might pitch camp during the day to rest, currently we are only less than half a day away from him. Just the sound of hoof beat will be enough to alert him. Therefore, we are taking the long route to be in front of him. By the time they are marching tonight, we will ambush him and burn his provisions.”

Satisfied, Shang Xiuxun said, “Just consider your answer reasonable enough.”

Kou Zhong was dying to ask bout the Two Sects and Six Ways further, but they must hasten at full speed, thereupon he had no choice but to temporarily shut this matter tightly in his heart.

By that evening, they already rounded a large circle, from the mountain road back to the plains, hurrying to be ahead of the Three Bandits’ army. Were it not for Bai Wenyuan, this old horse who knew the way home, they could forget about obtaining, as well as executing, such a marvelous plan. Because the slightest mistake or losing their way would mean that they lost the good opportunity.

Kou Zhong made a prompt decision to choose a hill, where the ambushing troops would be hidden behind the hillside on which was the road the enemy must follow.

When he and Shang Xiuxun went to the top of the hill to inspect the area, he seized the opportunity to ask more about Hua Jian Pai. He said, “Supposing Shi Zhixuan was the Hua Jian Pai previous generation’s disciple, and Bi Xiuxin fell for him, wouldn’t it mean Ci Hang Jingzhai had suffered a big blow?” [Translator’s note: the original text was kind of gibberish here, so the last sentence was only my ‘interpretation’ (blame Paonakata for this).]

Shang Xiuxun pondered deeply; she said, “This matter appears to be far more complicated than you think. Niang has repeatedly discussed this with Lu Miaozi, but even Lu Miaozi was not too clear about the particulars. He only knew that Shi Zhixuan might be a rare outstanding martial art master of Hua Jian Pai, which was not inferior in any respect to Zhu Yuyan and the Xie Di Xiang Yutian. Do you know what kind of man Xiang Yutian was?”

Kou Zhong replied, “I just found out about that; I happen to know that there exists some strange thing called Demonic Emperor Relics.”

Shang Xiuxun was greatly astonished, “How did you know that?” she asked, “This is the top secret of the demonic schools, even their own people are strictly forbidden to mention it to each other.”

“The reason I am asking about this matter,” Kou Zhong replied, “It’s because Liang Shao had a chance encounter with Bi Xiuxin and Shi Zhixuan’s daughter Shi Qingxuan [different xuans]; otherwise, I wouldn’t even be aware of the existence of the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Ways.”

A strange feeling welled up in Shang Xiuxun’s heart, a feeling that she herself did not understand. It seemed like she did not like to hear Xu Ziling and Shi Qingxuan’s names being mentioned together in one sentence; she could not help falling silent.

The sky gradually turned dark, with occasional dim starlight appearing on the cloudy night sky. The moon has not shown its face.

Yet full of spirit, Kou Zhong kept talking, “I got it. Didn’t you say earlier that Hua Jian Pai people treated the passion of the secular world with heartlessness? Bi Xiuxin must have had her heart moved by this Hua Jian Pai martial art master with a heart of stone, but that is also as if she has broken his demonic power. The problem is Bi Xiuxin’s real enemy must be Zhu Yuyan; therefore, she was using this method to win Shi Zhixuan may not necessarily be useful. All along she might lose under Zhu Yuyan’s hands.”

Shang Xiuxun cast her irritation out of the lake of her heart; she spoke indifferently, “Bi Xiuxin was indeed defeated so that her calm power [‘jing’ from Ci Hang Jingzhai] was greatly decreased. But her Yin Gui Pai opponent had suffered equally.”

Delighted, Kou Zhong asked, “What did Zhu Yuyan suffer?”

“It wasn’t Zhu Yuyan,” Shang Xiuxun snapped, “It was Zhu Yuyan’s daughter. On the night before her decisive battle against Bi Xiuxin, she slipped away overseas, angering Zhu Yuyan that she nearly suffered fire deviation. That was twenty years ago!”

Kou Zhong was severely shaken; he cast his gaze to the sky, trying to jog his memory. Closing his eyes, he muttered, “I have a good guess on who Zhu Yuyan’s daughter is! Ay! I should have guessed it early on. No wonder Bian Bufu can be his father.”

Dissatisfied, Shang Xiuxun said, “Earlier you said that you know the current generation disciple of Hua Jian Pai, and now based on the several sentences I said, you are able to guess the identity of Zhu Yuyan’s daughter; who is she? Tell me quickly.”

Kou Zhong took a deep breath; recovering from the shock, he said, “Although I cannot say with 100% confidence who the current Hua Jian Pai disciple is, it is extremely possible that he is the ‘Passionate Prince’ Hou Xibai. I wonder if Shi Zhixuan is already dead? If he is not, where is he now?”

Shang Xiuxun wrinkled her elegant-beyond-comprehension straight nose; with a little displeasure in her voice, she said, “Why not tell Xu Ziling to personally ask Shi Qingxuan? How would I know her family matters?”

For the first time Kou Zhong felt that she was jealous because Xu Ziling was with Shi Qingxuan. After staring at her absolute-beauty countenance with astonishment, he laughed involuntarily and said, “Ziling and Shi Qingxuan are just strangers coming together by chance; in a lot of things, it is inappropriate for him to inquire of her directly.”

Blushing with shame, Shang Xiuxun cast him a sidelong glance, hang her head low and said, “How would I know the relationship between them? Tell me, who is Zhu Yuyan’s daughter then?”

Full of confidence, Kou Zhong said, “I am quite sure it is Madame Dong Ming. Only I don’t know why unexpectedly she married Bian Bufu, who is her older generation, plus whose stinky name spread far and wide, no! It should be ‘whose stinky name spread secretly’. However, Bian Bufu also have wild schemes toward Wan yaonu, so clearly the people of demonic schools never pay attention to proper human relationships and difference between generations. In their eyes, things that do not conform to reason are actually quite reasonable.”

Hearing the name of Wanwan, Shang Xiuxun’s eyes spouted flames of hatred; she spoke heavily, “You must help me kill that female demon, to avenge He Bo and Peng Bo’s [uncle, older than one’s father, referring to Shang He and Shang Peng] ocean-deep blood debt.”

A feeling of empathy welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart; nodding, he said, “Absolutely. As long as I am still breathing, I will never let anybody from Yin Gui Pai get away. But right now it is not the time yet, we must still endure it a bit longer.”

Shang Xiuxun thought that Kou Zhong was referring to his martial art skill was still not enough to subdue Wanwan; with glistening tears in her eyes, she nodded in agreement.

Kou Zhong had to fight the strong urge in his heart. It was the first time that this staunch, remarkably beautiful woman showed this kind of lovely, pitiful appearance. Evidently deep in her heart, not only she was relying on him more and more, but she also trusted him fully. In this extremely tender-affection inducing moment, he nearly pulled her into his arms, when suddenly he remembered how just now she was jealous because of Xu Ziling. Hastily he pressed down his desire and spoke tenderly, “The road of life is never smooth and flat. Inevitably there will be a lot of matters that do not go according to our wish and about which we cannot do anything. ‘Separated in life and death, partings and reunions in joys and sorrows’, these eight characters [sheng li si bie, bei huan li he] sum it all.”

Shang Xiuxun quickly recovered; a little embarrassed, she said, “I have never been this weak. I don’t know why in front of you I became this fragile. Ay! I was telling you something; where was I?”

Suddenly there was an urgent sound of hoof beats.

The two turned their eyes in the direction of the sound, and saw Luo Fang urged his horse like flying, coming near from afar, while making signal with his hand that the enemy was coming this way.

[1] Han Gaozu, posthumous name of the first Han emperor, Liu Bang (256 or 247-195 BC), reigned 202-195 BC.

[2] Han Xin (-196 BC), famous general of first Han emperor, Liu Bang.